Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for whys and wherefores

whys and wherefores



Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

All the underlying causes and reasons, as in She went into the whys and wherefores of the adoption agency's rules and procedures . This idiom today is a redundancy since why and wherefore mean the same thing. Formerly, however, why indicated the reason for something and wherefore how it came to be. [c. 1600]

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


why'sWhyte classification