whatever

whatever - English

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ʍɒtˈɛvə/, /wɒtˈɛvə/
(General American) IPA: /wʌtˈɛvɚ/, /wəɾˈɛvɚ/

The /t/ in whatever may be flapped in certain dialects despite the fact that the /t/ precedes a stressed vowel due to the morpheme boundary between what and -ever.

Determiner

whatever

(interrogative) What ever; emphatic form of 'what'.
- Good heavens! Whatever time is it?!
Regardless of the ... that; for any ... that.
- Whatever choice you make, there will be consequences.
- I will stick with you, whatever fate befalls us.
Any ... that; of no matter what type or kind that.
- Whatever doubts I had were quickly dispelled.
- Write down whatever thoughts come into your mind.
Any; of no matter what type or kind.
- I must obtain it at whatever cost.

Derived terms

Translations

Arabic: أَيّ‎ (ar) (ʔayy), أَيَّمَا‎ (ʔayyamā), مَهْمَا‎ (mahmā)
Catalan: qualsevol
Chinese:
- Mandarin: 不管怎樣／不管怎样 (bùguǎnzěnyàng)
Danish: uanset (da)
Dutch: welke ... ook, hoegenaamd (nl)
Finnish: minkä tahansa (fi)
French: quel que soit (fr), n'importe quel (fr) m, n'importe quelle (fr) f, peu importe (fr), tant pis (fr)
German: Jacke wie Hose
Greek: ό,τι (el) (ó,ti), οτιδήποτε (el) (otidípote)
- Ancient: ὅ,τι (hó,ti)
Hungarian: bármilyen (hu), akármilyen (hu), bármely (hu)
Irish: cibé, pé
Italian: qualunque (it), qualsiasi (it), qualsivoglia (it), come vuoi, checché (it)
Korean: 무엇이든 (mueosideun), 도대체 무엇이 (dodaeche mueosi), 것은 무엇이든지 (geoseun mueosideunji)
Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: ھەرچی‎ (ckb) (herçî)
Latin: quisquis (la), quidquid
Malagasy: aleo ho any
Maori: ahatanga
Norman: n'împorte tchi qu'
Polish: cokolwiek (pl)
Portuguese: qualquer que seja
Russian: како́й бы ни (kakój by ni), любо́й (ru) (ljubój), како́й бы то ни́ бы́ло (kakój by to ní býlo)
Scottish Gaelic: ge be
Serbo-Croatian: koji god
Spanish: cualquier (es) m or f
Swedish: vad som helst
Ukrainian: будь-яки́й (uk) (budʹ-jakýj)
Walloon: po tolmine ké m

Pronoun

whatever

(interrogative) What ever; emphasised form of 'what', used to ask which thing, event, circumstance, etc.
- Whatever do you mean?
Regardless of anything that.
- Whatever he does, he will still lose the game.
- Whatever happens, stay calm.
(fused relative) Anything that; all that.
- Do whatever works.
- I’ll do whatever I can.
(informal) Anything; thing(s) of unspecified kind, or no matter what kind; sometimes used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.
- I don't need any of this stuff, so take whatever.

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

whatever (not comparable)

(with negative) At all; in any way; whatsoever.
- There is no point whatever in going on with this discussion.
(interrogative) In what way; to what extent.
- Whatever does it matter now?

Interjection

whatever

(colloquial) A holophrastic expression used to dismiss something that the speaker doesn't care about, doesn't think important, or doesn't want to consider or discuss any further.
- So you don't like Mrs Jones. Whatever. What's that got to do with my question?
- I wonder which I'm supposed to take ... whatever, I'll just pick any one.
- Go brush your teeth. – Whatever!

Usage notes

May appear rude or discourteous. Can be used to end an argument without conceding the point, implying that the issue is not worth discussing or indicating a general sense of apathy toward the subject.

Synonyms

Translations

Arabic: طُز‎ (ṭuz)
Catalan: el que tu diguis
Chinese:
- Mandarin: 隨便／随便 (zh) (suíbiàn), 好吧 (hǎo ba)
Czech: pro mě za mě
Dutch: ammehoela (nl), boeiend (nl)
Finnish: miten vain, ihan miten vain, joopa joo, olkoon (fi), ihan sama (fi) (colloquial)
French: bof (fr), c'est ça ! (fr), qu'importe
German: naja (de), egal (de), nebbich (de) (dated or archaic)
Greek: καλά κρασιά (el) (kalá krasiá)
Hebrew: שיהיה‎ (sheyihiyé), מה שתגיד‎ (ma shetagíd) (addressing a male), מה שתגידי‎ (ma shetagídi) (addressing a female)
Hungarian: bánom is én!, felőlem! (hu), tőlem! (hu), ahogy akarod, nekem mindegy (hu), mindegy (hu), nekem nyolc, egyre megy, egykutya
Indonesian: bodo amat, bodo (id) (slang)
Italian: vabbè
Japanese: どうでもいい！ (Dōdemo ii!), 勝手にしろ (かってにしろ, katte ni shiro), ご勝手に！ (かってに, Gokatte ni!)
Macedonian: н́ејсе (ńejse)
Maori: kāti
Norwegian: samma det!, whatever! (no) (teenage slang)
Polish: oj tam, jeden pies (literally “one dog”)
Portuguese: tanto faz (pt), que seja, tanto faz como tanto fez, dane-se (pt), foda-se (pt) (slang, vulgar)
Romanian: mă rog
Russian: всё равно́ (ru) (vsjó ravnó), ну и ла́дно (nu i ládno), какая разница (kakaja raznica), прое́хали (ru) (projéxali), фи (ru) (fi)
Slovene: karkoli
Spanish: como sea, filo (es) (Chile), no importa, da igual, lo que tú digas, lo dicho, me la suda, bah (es), ni fu ni fa (es), velay (es)
Swedish: jaja, skitsamma (sv) (slang)
Tagalog: wala akong paki
Turkish: neyse (tr)
Vietnamese: kệ (vi)
Yiddish: מילא‎ (meyle)

Adjective

whatever (comparative more whatever, superlative most whatever)

(colloquial) Unexceptional or unimportant; blah.

Noun

whatever (plural whatevers)

(colloquial) Something whose exact kind or nature is unimportant; a thingy.

Related terms

Anagrams

everwhat