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whoever

pron
/huˈɛvɚ/US/huˈɛvə/UK

Etymology

From Middle English whoever. By surface analysis, who + ever.

  1. inherited from whoever

Definitions

  1. Who ever

    Who ever: an emphatic form of who.

    • Whoever thought up that stupid idea?

  2. Any person or persons that.

    • Whoever breaks the law will be punished.

  3. The person that (no matter who).

    • Whoever robbed that old lady ought to be locked up.
    • I don't know what it is. Ask whoever put it there.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Regardless of the person or persons that.

      • Whoever stole the painting, the police will catch the thief in no time.

    2. Any person or persons.

      • I don't care who gets it; give it to whoever.

    3. Misspelling of who ever other than in interrogative use.

      • He is the tallest man whoever lived. (incorrect usage)
      • When the gays can claim the toughest bastard whoever pulled on a football boot as one of their own, ...

The neighborhood

Derived

whoever smelt it dealt it

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at whoever. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01whoever02emphatic03infinitive04respect05offered06offer07communicated08communicate09share10liability

A definitional loop anchored at whoever. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at whoever

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA