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Whether vs Nether - What's the difference?

whether | nether |

As a pronoun whether

is which of two.

As a conjunction whether

is Introducing a direct interrogative question (often with correlative {{term|or) which indicates doubt between alternatives.}.

As an adjective nether is

lower; under.

As an adverb nether is

down; downward.

As a verb nether is

to bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.

As a noun nether is

oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.

whether

English

Pronoun

(English Pronouns)
  • (obsolete) Which of two.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew XXVII:
  • The debite answered and sayde unto them: whether of the twayne will ye that I lett loosse unto you?
  • * Bible, Matthew xxi. 31
  • Whether of them twain did the will of his father?

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (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?
  • .
  • :
  • *
  • *: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= 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.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= 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.}}
  • ; if, whether or not.
  • :
  • :
  • 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?''
    Further, in the first two of these examples, the "or staying" and "or not" may be added as an afterthought (sometimes indicated in writing with a comma before), such that the ''whether may be uttered in sense 3 and then amended to sense 2. * Sense 4 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility; *"He's coming, whether you like it" is ungrammatical. * In traditional grammar, the clauses headed by whether'' in senses 2 and 3 are classified as noun clauses, and those headed by ''whether in sense 4 are classified as adverb clauses.

    nether

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) nether, nethere, nithere, from (etyl) .

    Adjective

  • Lower; under.
  • The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.
  • Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface.
  • The nether regions.
  • * 1873 , Mark Twain, The Gilded Age , page187:
  • When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of womanhood,
    Synonyms
    * (lower) bottom, lower * (sense, beneath the Earth's surface) subsurface, subterranean
    Derived terms
    * netherdom * nether region * Netherlands * nethermore * nethermost * netherness * netherty * netherward * netherworld

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Down; downward.
  • Low; low down.
  • Etymology 2

    Alteration of earlier nither, from (etyl) nitheren, from (etyl) . See above.

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
  • To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
  • To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
  • To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
  • To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.
  • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
  • (mining) A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.
  • Anagrams

    *