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Whereas vs However - What's the difference?

whereas | however |

As adverbs the difference between whereas and however

is that whereas is where (that) while however is nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, that said, in spite of this.

As conjunctions the difference between whereas and however

is that whereas is in contrast; whilst on the contrary while however is in whatever manner (that).

As a noun whereas

is a clause, as in legal documents, stating whereas.

whereas

English

Alternative forms

* (rare)

Adverb

(-)
  • (obsolete) Where (that).
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iii:
  • And home she came, whereas her mother blynd / Sate in eternall night [...].

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • In contrast; whilst on the contrary.
  • He came first in the race whereas his brother came last.
  • It being the fact that; inasmuch as
  • * United States Articles of Confederation
  • And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.

    Usage notes

    * Whereas is used in the second sense principally in legal documents, formal resolutions of corporate bodies, and the like.

    See also

    * thereabout, thereafter, thereagainst, thereat, thereby, therefor, therefore, therefrom, therein, thereinafter, thereof, thereon, thereto, theretofore, thereunder, thereunto, thereupon, therewith, therewithal * hereabout, hereafter, hereat, hereby, herein, hereinafter, hereinbefore, hereinto, hereof, hereon, hereto, heretofore, hereunto, hereunder, hereupon, herewith * whereabouts, whereas, whereafter, whereat, whereby, wherefore, wherefrom, wherein, whereinto, whereof, whereon, whereto, whereunder, whereupon, wherever, wherewith, wherewithal

    Noun

    (es)
  • A clause, as in legal documents, stating whereas.
  • * 1883 , The Insurance Law Journal
  • ...the promise is stated after a whereas , though the promise is the very gist of the action, yet, such a count so framed, will be held good on demurrer.
  • * 1908 , United States Congress, Hearings beginning March 9, 1908-April 30, 1908
  • It had a page or so of whereases .
  • * 1961 , Aluminum Workers' International Union, Biennial Convention
  • I feel it is most unfortunate that some of the preambles, prefaces, whereases or whatever you want to call it, are put before motions or before resolutions...
  • * 1973 , Canadian Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Proceedings
  • If it is the desire of any Lodge on the floor that the whereases that were listed in their original Resolution be quoted by the Chairman or by the Secretary...

    however

    English

    (POS mixed up)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (lb) Nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, that said, in spite of this.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however , understood him very well.
  • *
  • , chapter=2, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however , by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however , has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • (lb) To whatever degree.
  • :
  • (lb) In whatever way.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.}}
  • In what way?; how?
  • :
  • Usage notes

    * (nevertheless) Strunk and White’s (The Elements of Style)'' argues that the adverb ''however , in its sense of nevertheless, should be avoided at the beginning of a sentence.

    Synonyms

    * after all * but * nevertheless * nonetheless * notwithstanding * though * that said * still and all

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • In whatever manner (that).
  • Do it however you want.
  • To whatever extent.
  • However far he may get, there'll be many that get further.
    However much you prepare for the exam, there will still be a few questions on which you won't be sure of the answer.
  • (proscribed) Although, though, but, yet.
  • Usage notes

    *

    (although) The use of however'' as a conjunction meaning "but" is identical to its use as a clause-initial adverb meaning "nevertheless", except in punctuation (when written) and in prosody (when spoken). Hence, the following proscribed sentence:

    (proscribed) ''He told me not to do it, however''' I did it.''

    is equivalent to the following accepted one:

    (accepted) ''He told me not to do it; '''however , I did it.''

    In particular, when used as a conjunction in this sense, ''however always appears between the clauses it connects; it does not introduce a true subordinate clause that can be moved to the start of an independent clause, because a conjunctive adverb cannot do that.

    Statistics

    *

    References

    * * * * " however (degree)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * " however (despite)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * " however (way)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * * Oxford English Dictionary , second edition (1989) * Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)