See whys and wherefores on Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "why and wherefore",
"tags": [
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]
}
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"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "p",
"head": "whys and wherefores",
"sg": "why and wherefore"
},
"expansion": "whys and wherefores pl (normally plural, singular why and wherefore)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1887, George Bernard Shaw, chapter 5, in An Unsocial Socialist:",
"text": "I can no more tell you the whys and wherefores of myself than I can lift myself up by the waistband and carry myself into the next county.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 1, in Anne of Green Gables:",
"text": "[I]f she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "September 5 2004, Albert M. Forget, “Question integrity of vets attacking Kerry”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer:",
"text": "Of the hundreds of thousands who served in Vietnam, most still do not understand the whys and wherefores of our involvement.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The reasons or motivations for a fact, action, or decision, especially the complete set of such reasons or motivations."
],
"id": "en-whys_and_wherefores-en-noun-tl5ImGj0",
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[
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"reason"
],
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],
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"(set phrase) The reasons or motivations for a fact, action, or decision, especially the complete set of such reasons or motivations."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "explanation"
}
],
"tags": [
"plural",
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],
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{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "Translations",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "syyt"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Translations",
"tags": [
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],
"word": "pourquoi du comment"
}
]
}
],
"word": "whys and wherefores"
}
{
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1887, George Bernard Shaw, chapter 5, in An Unsocial Socialist:",
"text": "I can no more tell you the whys and wherefores of myself than I can lift myself up by the waistband and carry myself into the next county.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 1, in Anne of Green Gables:",
"text": "[I]f she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "September 5 2004, Albert M. Forget, “Question integrity of vets attacking Kerry”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer:",
"text": "Of the hundreds of thousands who served in Vietnam, most still do not understand the whys and wherefores of our involvement.",
"type": "quote"
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"tags": [
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],
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{
"word": "explanation"
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"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "Translations",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "syyt"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Translations",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "pourquoi du comment"
}
],
"word": "whys and wherefores"
}
Download raw JSONL data for whys and wherefores meaning in All languages combined (2.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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