"what's what" meaning in English

See what's what in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-what's what.ogg
Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} what's what (uncountable)
  1. (idiomatic) Precisely what the situation really is or what the facts truly are; the true state of things. Tags: idiomatic, uncountable Synonyms: what is what, what was what (english: for some past situation) Related terms: set straight, who's who
    Sense id: en-what's_what-en-noun-unvv9r4g Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Alternative forms

{
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "what's what (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1823, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Tenth",
          "text": "Besides, he had some qualities which fix\nMiddle-aged ladies even more than young:\nThe former know what's what; while new-fledged chicks\nKnow little more of Love than what is sung\nIn rhymes . . ."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 18, in Piccadilly Jim:",
          "text": "\"Well, I know what's what, too. I know what you are for one thing.\" He chuckled. \"I've got your number all right.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1921, Samuel Hopkins Adams, chapter 17, in Success:",
          "text": "Anyway, he's a wise old bird and may hand you a pointer or two about what's what in New York.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xvii",
          "text": "This was a hardship in as much as inquiry showed that even in vegetarian restaurants many courses used to contain eggs. This meant that unless I knew what was what, I had to go through the awkward process of ascertaining whether a particular course contained eggs or no, for many puddings and cakes were not free from them."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 August 15, Sonia Van Gilder Cooke, “Sangat TV”, in Time:",
          "text": "Sometimes it takes a scruffy underdog to show the professionals what's what. During the London riots, it was tiny Birmingham broadcaster Sangat TV that trumped the BBC and CNN with its riveting footage and quirky commentary.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Precisely what the situation really is or what the facts truly are; the true state of things."
      ],
      "id": "en-what's_what-en-noun-unvv9r4g",
      "links": [
        [
          "Precisely",
          "precisely"
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        [
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        [
          "fact",
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        [
          "true",
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        [
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          "state"
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        [
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          "thing"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Precisely what the situation really is or what the facts truly are; the true state of things."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "set straight"
        },
        {
          "word": "who's who"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "what is what"
        },
        {
          "english": "for some past situation",
          "word": "what was what"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-what's what.ogg",
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  "word": "what's what"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
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      "word": "set straight"
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      "word": "who's who"
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        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1823, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Tenth",
          "text": "Besides, he had some qualities which fix\nMiddle-aged ladies even more than young:\nThe former know what's what; while new-fledged chicks\nKnow little more of Love than what is sung\nIn rhymes . . ."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 18, in Piccadilly Jim:",
          "text": "\"Well, I know what's what, too. I know what you are for one thing.\" He chuckled. \"I've got your number all right.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1921, Samuel Hopkins Adams, chapter 17, in Success:",
          "text": "Anyway, he's a wise old bird and may hand you a pointer or two about what's what in New York.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xvii",
          "text": "This was a hardship in as much as inquiry showed that even in vegetarian restaurants many courses used to contain eggs. This meant that unless I knew what was what, I had to go through the awkward process of ascertaining whether a particular course contained eggs or no, for many puddings and cakes were not free from them."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 August 15, Sonia Van Gilder Cooke, “Sangat TV”, in Time:",
          "text": "Sometimes it takes a scruffy underdog to show the professionals what's what. During the London riots, it was tiny Birmingham broadcaster Sangat TV that trumped the BBC and CNN with its riveting footage and quirky commentary.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Precisely what the situation really is or what the facts truly are; the true state of things."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Precisely",
          "precisely"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
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        ],
        [
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        ],
        [
          "true",
          "true"
        ],
        [
          "state",
          "state"
        ],
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          "thing"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Precisely what the situation really is or what the facts truly are; the true state of things."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/En-au-what%27s_what.ogg"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "what is what"
    },
    {
      "english": "for some past situation",
      "word": "what was what"
    }
  ],
  "word": "what's what"
}

Download raw JSONL data for what's what meaning in English (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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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