Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. For what purpose or reason; why.
- adv. Therefore.
- n. A purpose or cause: wanted to know all the whys and wherefores.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- For what reason, thing, or purpose? what for? why?
- For which cause or reason; in consequence of which; consequently.
- Synonyms Therefore, Wherefore, Accordingly, etc. See therefore.
- n. The reason or cause.
Wiktionary
- adv. Why, for what reason, because of what.
- adv. Therefore.
- conj. Because of which.
- n. An intent or purpose; a why.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. For which reason; so; -- used relatively.
- adv. For what reason; why; -- used interrogatively.
- n. the reason why.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'
Examples
“The "wherefore" is resumed from Heb 12: 1. lift up -- In Isa 35: 3, from which Paul here quotes, it is, "Strengthen ye the weak hands.”
“Where and wherefore is the vein of resistance to online media?”
Global Voices in English » Talking to Jamaican writer and blogger Marlon James
“And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?”
Dipodic Verse : A.E. Stallings : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation
“Now that, the conception of which contains a therefore to every wherefore, which is not defective in any respect whatever, which is all-sufficient as a condition, seems to be the being of which we can justly predicate absolute necessity -- for this reason, that, possessing the conditions of all that is possible, it does not and cannot itself require any condition.”
“The what's what should typify written reputation layman's terms wherefore that it is easily understood.”
“And there are many points having special reference to the heart, such as wherefore does it first acquire consistency, and appear to possess life, motion, sense, before any other part of the body is perfected, as Aristotle says in his third book, “De partibus Animalium”?”
“And I think as long as you keep telling consumers that there're many strains of journalism in the country, on the left, on the right, on the top, on the bottom, people who don't take "wherefore," "whys," as seriously as some of us were trained to do.”
“Obj. 5: Further Ambrose says on Luke 5 that "the ship in which Judas was, was in distress"; wherefore "Peter, who was calm in the security of his own merits, was in distress about those of others.”
“But if they take advantage of the word "wherefore," as connected with the passage in the Psalm, "Wherefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee," for their own purposes, let these novices in”
“And there are many points having special reference to the heart, such as wherefore does it first acquire consistency, and appear to possess life, motion, sense, before any other part of the body is perfected, as”
The Harvard Classics Volume 38 Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wherefore’.
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Archaic
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 327 more...
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Words That Are Fun to Say.
error, acetylsalicylic acid, hemidemisemiquaver, misanthropic, cantankerous, thou, prolixity, wherefore, lozenge, fisticuffs, comparatively, strumpet and 2 more...
polymorph Not "where" but "why". See this explanation of what Juliet really meant when she lamented "Wherefore art thou Romeo". Apr 14, 2007