Where

//wɛəɹ// adv, conj, noun, pron, slang

adv, conj, noun, pron, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The place in which something happens.

    "A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how."

Adverb
  1. 1
    In, at or to what place. interrogative, not-comparable

    "Where are you?"

  2. 2
    In what situation. not-comparable

    "Where would we be without our parents?"

  3. 3
    In, at or to the place (that) or a place (that). not-comparable

    "Stay where you are."

  4. 4
    In, at or to any place (that); wherever; anywhere. not-comparable

    "Please sit where you like."

  5. 5
    In, at or to which. not-comparable, relative

    "This is the place where we first met."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    The place in, at or to which. not-comparable

    "He lives within five miles of where he was born."

  2. 7
    A situation or case in which. informal, not-comparable

    "A function is where two variables are related."

  3. 8
    In a/the situation, position, case, etc. in which. not-comparable

    "You cannot be too careful where explosives are involved."

Conjunction
  1. 1
    While on the contrary; although; whereas.

    "And flight and die is death destroying death; Where fearing dying pays death servile breath."

  2. 2
    That. informal

    "I read where they caught the guy."

Pronoun
  1. 1
    What place. interrogative

    "Where did you come from?"

Synonyms

All synonyms
everywhereherelocationlocusplaceposition

Example

More examples

"I didn't know where it came from."

Etymology

From Middle English wher, from Old English hwǣr (“where”, literally “at what place”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwār, from Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (interrogative pronoun).

Related phrases

before one knows where one isblack where it countsboldly go where no man has gone beforecredit where credit's duedon't get your honey where you make your moneydon't get your meat where you get your breaddon't shit where you eatdrive a nail where it will goevery whereevery which wherefools rush in where angels fear to treadgive credit where credit is due

More for "where"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.