wherefore
ADV · English
Experimental / limited support
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The corpus records 2 senses of wherefore. Each sense below has its own Add to list, so you choose the one you mean.
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Experimental coverage — measured below Partial on the number of recorded words, definitions, translations, word forms and pronunciation. Treat entries as evidence to check; meanings may be incomplete.
English is Experimental in Words. Support is measured, not declared: a language reaches Partial only when every measure meets its threshold, and a measure that has not been taken does not count. The development corpus holds 60 source-backed words in English. What is shown may be incomplete, and pronunciation audio, generated forms and generated examples are not offered.
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Definition: Why, for what reason, because of what. From a source of medium confidence.
archaic · conjunctive · interrogative · not-comparable
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- Ah, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? / Denie thy Father, and refuſe thy name, / Or if thou wilt not be but ſworne my loue, / And il'e no longer be a Capulet. c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- VVherefore weepe you? 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 11, column 2:
- Wherefore doe the wicked liue, become old, yea, are mightie in power? 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 21:7, column 1:
- And if he preached other than the right doctrine, wherefore did his superiors in the Carthusian convent permit it? If the shepherds turn a wolf in sheep's clothing into the flock, they should not blame the sheep for being worried. 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter II, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 27:
- "Good morning, Mrs. Denny," he said. "Wherefore this worried look on your face? Has that reprobate James been misbehaving himself?" 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:
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Definition: Therefore; thus. From a source of medium confidence.
archaic · conjunctive · formal · indicative · not-comparable
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure? 1830, Joseph Smith Jr., chapter 4, in The Book of Mormon^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon_(1981)/Jacob#Chapter_4), Jacob:
- Wherefore, Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr., is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be removed from office. 2010 March 17, House of the United States, House Resolution 1031:
No paradigm has been compiled for this word yet.
Etymology: From Middle English wherfor, wherfore, hwarfore, equivalent to where- (“what”) + for. Compare Dutch waarvoor (“what for, wherefore”), German wofür (“for what, what for, why”), Danish and Norwegian hvorfor (“wherefore, why”), Swedish varför (“wherefore, why”). More at where, for. From a source of medium confidence.
No related word is recorded for this word.