Whether vs Indeed - What's the difference?
whether | indeed |
(obsolete) Which of two.
* 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew XXVII:
* Bible, Matthew xxi. 31
(lb)
*1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Mark II:
*:whether ys it easyer to saye to the sicke of the palsey, thy synnes ar forgeven the: or to saye, aryse, take uppe thy beed and walke?
*1616 , (William Shakespeare), (King John) , I.i:
*:Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, [...] Or the reputed sonne of Cordelion?
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*:As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
*{{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 19, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
, title= *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= ; if, whether or not.
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(lb) Truly; in fact; actually.
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*:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed , a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1
, passage=I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed , did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.}}
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 *
*:With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed , allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= In fact.
:
As a pronoun whether
is (obsolete) which of two.As a conjunction whether
is (lb).As an adverb indeed is
(lb) truly; in fact; actually.As an interjection indeed is
indicates emphatic agreement.whether
English
Pronoun
(English Pronouns)- The debite answered and sayde unto them: whether of the twayne will ye that I lett loosse unto you?
- Whether of them twain did the will of his father?
Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)England 1-0 Ukraine, passage=The incident immediately revived the debate about goal-line technology, with a final decision on whether it is introduced expected to be taken in Zurich on 5 July.}}
Old soldiers?, passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless. One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished.}}
Usage notes
* There is some overlap in usage between senses 2 and 3, in that a yes-or-no interrogative content clause can list the two possibilities explicitly in a number of ways:- Do you know whether he's coming or staying?''
- ''Do you know whether he's coming or not?''
- ''Do you know whether or not he's coming?''
indeed
English
Alternative forms
* endeed (obsolete)Adverb
(-)citation, passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
Welcome to the plastisphere, passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed , contain bacteria,
Synonyms
* (actually) certainly, definitely, in fact, indubitably, really, surely, truly, undoubtedlySynonyms
* absolutely * indubitably * okay * sure thingStatistics
*External links
*indeed] at [http://septicscompanion.com The Septic's Companion: A British Slang Dictionary