Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb For what purpose or reason; why.
- adverb Therefore.
- noun A purpose or cause.
from The Century Dictionary.
- For what reason, thing, or purpose? what for? why?
- For which cause or reason; in consequence of which; consequently.
- Synonyms Therefore, Wherefore, Accordingly, etc. See
therefore . - noun The reason or cause.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb For which reason; so; -- used relatively.
- adverb For what reason; why; -- used interrogatively.
- noun colloq. the reason why.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb conjunctive, archaic
Why , for what reason, because of what. - adverb conjunctive
Therefore . - conjunction archaic
Because ofwhich . - noun An intent or purpose; a
why .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The "wherefore" is resumed from Heb 12: 1. lift up -- In Isa 35: 3, from which Paul here quotes, it is, "Strengthen ye the weak hands."
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Where and wherefore is the vein of resistance to online media?
Global Voices in English » Talking to Jamaican writer and blogger Marlon James 2009
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And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?
Dipodic Verse : A.E. Stallings : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007
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Now that, the conception of which contains a therefore to every wherefore, which is not defective in any respect whatever, which is all-sufficient as a condition, seems to be the being of which we can justly predicate absolute necessity -- for this reason, that, possessing the conditions of all that is possible, it does not and cannot itself require any condition.
The Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1764
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The what's what should typify written reputation layman's terms wherefore that it is easily understood.
Donald Trump News and Information admin 2010
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And there are many points having special reference to the heart, such as wherefore does it first acquire consistency, and appear to possess life, motion, sense, before any other part of the body is perfected, as Aristotle says in his third book, “De partibus Animalium”?
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And I think as long as you keep telling consumers that there're many strains of journalism in the country, on the left, on the right, on the top, on the bottom, people who don't take "wherefore," "whys," as seriously as some of us were trained to do.
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Obj. 5: Further Ambrose says on Luke 5 that "the ship in which Judas was, was in distress"; wherefore "Peter, who was calm in the security of his own merits, was in distress about those of others."
Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas
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But if they take advantage of the word "wherefore," as connected with the passage in the Psalm, "Wherefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee," for their own purposes, let these novices in
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And there are many points having special reference to the heart, such as wherefore does it first acquire consistency, and appear to possess life, motion, sense, before any other part of the body is perfected, as
The Harvard Classics Volume 38 Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology) Various
polymorph commented on the word wherefore
Not "where" but "why". See this explanation of what Juliet really meant when she lamented "Wherefore art thou Romeo".
April 14, 2007