Adjacent Words

Whether definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WHETHER, pronoun or substitute. [L. The sense seems to be what, or which of two, referring either to persons or to sentences.]
1. Which of two.
Whether of them twain did the will of his father? Matthew 21/
Here whether is a substitute for one of two, and signifies which; which of the two; but in this sense it is obsolete.
2. Which of two alternatives, expressed by a sentence or the clause of a sentence, and followed by or. Resolve whether you will go or not; that is, you will go or not go; resolve which.
[Note. IN the latter use, which is now most common, whether is called an adverb. This is a mistake. It is the same part of speech as in the former example. The only difference is that in the former example it represents or refers to a noun, and in the latter to a sentence or clause.]

Merriam Webster's

I. pronoun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hwæther, hwether; akin to Old High German hwedar which of two, Latin uter, Greek poteros, Old English hw? who — more at who Date: before 12th century 1. archaic which one of the two 2. archaic whichever one of the two II. conjunction Date: before 12th century — used as a function word usually with correlative or or with or whether to indicate (1) until the early 19th century a direct question involving alternatives; (2) an indirect question involving stated or implied alternatives <decide whether he should agree or raise objections> <wondered whether to stay>; (3) alternative conditions or possibilities <see me no more, whether he be dead or no — Shakespeare> <seated him next to her whether by accident or design>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

conj. introducing the first or both of alternative possibilities (I doubt whether it matters; I do not know whether they have arrived or not). Phrases and idioms: whether or no see NO(2). Etymology: OE hwæther, hwether f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whether Wheth"er, pron. [OE. whether, AS. hw[ae]?er; akin to OS. hwe?ar, OFries. hweder, OHG. hwedar, wedar, G. weder, conj., neither, Icel. hv[=a]rr whether, Goth. hwa?ar, Lith. katras, L. uter, Gr. ?, ?, Skr. katara, from the interrogatively pronoun, in AS. hw[=a] who. ????. See Who, and cf. Either, Neither, Or, conj.] Which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively and relatively. [Archaic] Now choose yourself whether that you liketh. --Chaucer. One day in doubt I cast for to compare Whether in beauties' glory did exceed. --Spenser. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? --Matt. xxi. 31.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whether Wheth"er, conj. In case; if; -- used to introduce the first or two or more alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by or, or by or whether. When the second of two alternatives is the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative, and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly implied in the whether of the first. And now who knows But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours? --Shak. You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge. --Shak. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. --Rom. xiv. 8. But whether thus these things, or whether not; Whether the sun, predominant in heaven, Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun, . . . Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid. --Milton. Whether or no, in either case; in any case; as, I will go whether or no. Whether that, whether. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use whether when you are talking about a choice or doubt between two or more alternatives. To this day, it's unclear whether he shot himself or was murdered... They now have two weeks to decide whether or not to buy... I don't know whether they've found anybody yet. CONJ 2. You use whether to say that something is true in any of the circumstances that you mention. Whether they say it aloud or not, most men expect their wives to be faithful. ...beers and lagers of all kinds, whether bottled or draught. CONJ