whatever

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ʍɒtˈɛvə/
• (GenAm) IPA: /wɑtˈɛvɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvə(r)

Adjective

whatever (comparative more whatever, superlative most whatever)

1. (colloquial) Unexceptional or unimportant; blah.
   • 1996, "Mathias", Lake Placid Comments (discussion on Internet newsgroup rec.music.phish)

     All in all, I guess I shouldn 't be complaining, but the rest of the show, imho, was very whatever-ish.

   • 2007, Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend", The Best Damn Thing,

     She's like so whatever / You can do so much better

Determiner

whatever

1. No matter which; for any

   Whatever choice you make, there will be consequences.

2. (relative) Anything that.

   Whatever you say is fine with me.

   • 1734, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

     And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.

   • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page viii

     Whatever utility the work may have outside of its stated boundaries will be largely because of such a nonprovincial approach.

Derived terms

• whatever creams your twinkie
• whatever floats your boat
• whatever it takes
• whateverism
• whateverness

Translations

no matter which; for any

• Arabic: أي (ar) ('ayy), أيما (ar) ('áyyamaa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不管怎樣 (cmn), 不管怎样 (cmn) (bùguǎn zěnyàng)

• Danish: uanset (da)
• Dutch: welke ... ook
• Finnish: minkä tahansa (fi)
• French: quel que soit (fr), n'importe quel (fr) m, n'importe quelle (fr) f
• Italian: qualunque (it), qualsiasi (it), qualsivoglia (it)
• Jèrriais: n'împorte tchi qu'

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: هه‌رچی

• Russian: какой бы ни (ru) (kakój by ni), любой (ru) (ljubój), какой бы то ни было (ru) (kakój by to ní bylo)
• Scottish Gaelic: ge be (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: koji god (sh)
• Spanish: cualquier (es) m and f
• Swedish: vad som helst (sv)

anything

• Arabic: أي شيء (ar) ('ayy shay')
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無論什麼 (cmn), 无论什么 (cmn) (wúlùn shénme), 無論何事 (cmn), 无论何事 (cmn) (wúlùn héshì)

• Czech: cokoli (cs)
• Danish: hvad end (da), alt hvad (da), hvad som helst (da)
• Dutch: maakt niet uit (nl), het zal wel (nl)
• Finnish: mitä tahansa (fi), mikä ikinä (fi)
• French: quoi que (fr)
• German: was immer (de), was auch immer (de)

• Italian: qualsiasi cosa (it)
• Japanese: 何でも (ja) (なんでも, nan-demo), 何事も (ja) (なにごとも, nanigoto-mo), 何...も (なに...も, nani...mo)
• Polish: cokolwiek
• Russian: всё, что (ru) (vsjo, čto) (read: vsjo, što), что бы ни (ru) (čtó by ni) (read: štó by ni)
• Scottish Gaelic: ge be dè (gd)
• Spanish: lo que sea que (es), cualquier cosa que (es)
• Swedish: vad som helst (sv)
• Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎐𐎎 (mnm)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: qualcunque

Interjection

whatever

1. (colloquial, dismissive) A holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.

   Parent: For the last time, clean up your room!

   Child: Whatever.

Usage notes

• Tone of voice is particularly important here in playing up or playing down the dismissive quality of the word.

Synonyms

• so what
• whoopee do

Translations

indicating the matter is not worthy of further discussion

• Catalan: el que tu diguis (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 无论如何 (cmn), wúlùnrúhé

• Finnish: miten vain (fi)
• French: bof (fr)
• German: wie dem auch sei (de)
• Italian: vabbè (it)

• Norwegian: samma det! (no), (teenage slang) whatever! (no)
• Polish: nieważne (pl)
• Portuguese: tanto faz (pt)
• Russian: всё равно (ru) (vsjo ravnó), ну и ладно (ru) (nu i ládno)
• Slovene: karkoli
• Spanish: como sea (es)

Pronoun

whatever

1. Anything; used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.

   I'll do whatever I can.

   Do you want Chinese or Mexican for lunch today? — Whatever.

Translations

anything

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無論什麼 (cmn), 无论什么 (cmn) (wúlùn shénme)

• Danish: hvad som helst (da), (det er) ligegyldigt (da)
• Esperanto: kio ajn (eo)
• Finnish: mitä tahansa (fi), mikä ikinä (fi)
• French: n'importe quoi (1), peu importe (2)
• German: egal (de)

• Jèrriais: n'împorte tchi
• Latin: quidquid (la), quisquis (la)
• Russian: что угодно (ru) (čto ugódno) (read: što ugódno)
• Scottish Gaelic: ge be dè (gd)
• Slovene: karkoli
• Spanish: no importa, da igual, lo que sea (es)
• Swedish: vad som helst (sv)

Related terms

• however
• howsoever
• whatsoever
• whenever
• whensoever
• wherever
• wheresoever
• whichever
• whoever
• whomever
• whomsoever
• whosoever
• wherever
• whyever
• whysoever
• no matter what

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: George · influence · March · #668: whatever · reach · secret · showed

Anagrams

• everwhat