whereas

• whereäs (rare)

From where +‎ as (“that”); first attested in the meaning of "where" [14^thc.][1]. Compare thereas.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɜəɹˈæz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /(h)wɛɹˈæz/
• Hyphenation: where‧as

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æz

whereas (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Where (that).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.iii:

     And home she came, whereas her mother blynd / Sate in eternall night […]

whereas

1. In contrast; whilst on the contrary; although.

   He came first in the race whereas his brother came last.

2. (chiefly law) It being the fact that; inasmuch as.
   • United States Articles of Confederation

     And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.

• Whereas is used in the second sense principally in legal documents, formal resolutions of corporate bodies, etc.

whereas (plural whereases)

1. A clause, as in legal documents, stating whereas.
   • 1883, The Insurance Law Journal, Potter and Company:

     […] the promise is stated after a whereas, though the promise is the very gist of the action, yet, such a count so framed, will be held good on demurrer.

   • 1908, United States Congress, Hearings beginning March 9, 1908 – April 30, 1908:

     It had a page or so of whereases.

   • 1961, Aluminum Workers' International Union, Biennial Convention:

     I feel it is most unfortunate that some of the preambles, prefaces, whereases or whatever you want to call it, are put before motions or before resolutions […]

   • 1973, Canadian Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Proceedings:

     If it is the desire of any Lodge on the floor that the whereases that were listed in their original Resolution be quoted by the Chairman or by the Secretary […]

• Erewash