What is the difference between whichever and whatever?
whichever | whatever | Related terms |
(lb) Unexceptional or unimportant; blah.
*1996 , "Mathias", Lake Placid Comments'' (discussion on Internet newsgroup ''rec.music.phish )
*:All in all, I guess I shouldn't be complaining, but the rest of the show, imho, was very whatever -ish.
*2007 , (Avril Lavigne), , (The Best Damn Thing) ,
*:She's like so whatever / You can do so much better
(lb) At all, absolutely, whatsoever.
:
*
*:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
No matter which; for any
(relative) Anything that.
* 1734 , (Alexander Pope), (An Essay on Man)
*
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= (colloquial, dismissive) A holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.
Anything; used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.
Whichever is a related term of whatever.
As determiners the difference between whichever and whatever
is that whichever is any one or a number of a group while whatever is no matter which; for any.As pronouns the difference between whichever and whatever
is that whichever is any one or a number of a group while whatever is anything; used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.As a adjective whatever is
(colloquial) unexceptional or unimportant; blah.As a interjection whatever is
{{context|colloquial|dismissive|lang=en}} a holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.whichever
English
Usage notes
It may be preferable to use whoever'' (subject) or ''whomever (object) when referring to a group of people.whatever
English
Adjective
(en adjective)Determiner
(en determiner)- And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.
- Whatever utility the work may have outside of its stated boundaries will be largely because of such a nonprovincial approach.
The Evolution of Eyeglasses, passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
Derived terms
* whatever creams your twinkie * whatever floats your boat * whatever it takes * whateverism * whatevernessInterjection
(en interjection)- Parent: For the last time, brush your teeth!
- Child: Whatever !
Usage notes
* Tone of voice is particularly important here in playing up or playing down the dismissive quality of the word.Synonyms
* so what * whoopee do * mehPronoun
(English Pronouns)- I'll do whatever I can.
- Do you want Chinese or Mexican for lunch today? — Whatever .