where

See also: where- and were

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English wher, quher, from Old English hwǣr (“where”, literally “at what place”), from Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (interrogative pronoun). Cognate with Scots whaur (“where”), West Frisian wêr (“where”), Dutch waar (“where”), German wo (“where”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvor (“where”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvar (“where”), Icelandic hvar (“where”); related to Old English hwā (“who”). More at who.

Pronunciation

Conjunction

where

  1. While on the contrary; although; whereas.
    • William Shakespeare
      And flight and die is death destroying death; / Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.
    • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises
      Where the Joker preys on our fears of random, irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.
    • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
      Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
    • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:where.
    Where Susy has trouble coloring inside the lines, Johnny has already mastered shading.
  2. At or in which place or situation.
    • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
      Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
    • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 122:
      Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.
    • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:where.
    He is looking for a house where he can have a complete office.
    I've forgotten where I was in this book, but it was probably around chapter four.
  3. To which place or situation.
    The snowbirds travel where it is warm.
  4. Wherever.
    Their job is to go where they are called.
  5. (law) In a position, case, etc., in which.
    Where no provision under this Act is applicable, the case shall be decided in accordance with the customary practices.

Translations

Adverb

where (not comparable)

  1. Interrogative adverb, used in either a direct or indirect question: at what place; to what place; what place.
    Where are you?
    Where are you going?
    He asked where I grew up.
    1. With the preposition from
    Where did you come from?
  2. In what situation.
    Where would we be without our parents?
  3. (relative) At which, on which.
    That is the place where we first met.

Translations

Pronoun

where

  1. The place in which.
    He lives within five miles of where he was born.

Translations

Noun

where (plural wheres)

  1. The place in which something happens.
    A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.
    • Edmund Spenser
      Finding the nymph asleep in secret where

Translations

Derived terms
Terms derived from where

Anagrams
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