whyever - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From why +‎ ever.

whyever (not comparable)

  1. (interrogative) Why ever: an emphatic form of why.
    Whyever would someone do that?
  2. (uncommon) For whatever reason.
    You can use it whenever you want and whyever you want.
    • 1918, Wilson Follett, The Modern Novel: A Study of the Purpose and the Meaning of Fiction, page 79:
      Whatever we do, and whyever we do it, does not every motive originate in self, and does not every act proceed out of the individual's instinct for self-fulfilment ?
    • 1975, Steven Polgar, Population, Ecology, and Social Evolution, page 74:
      Whyever they began, there was no perceptible wolf at their door.
    • 2006, David Weber, Linda Evans, Hell's Gate:
      "And whyever they were doing it, they were the ones responsible for what happened to her and all of the rest of my friends in the first place."
  3. (uncommon) Regardless of the reason (why).
    I don't care what you want. Whyever you're here, please go away.

Other emphatic forms of why:

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