whatsoever

1. 1
   adverb

   Used after a negative to emphasize it, with the sense 'at all' or 'in any way.'

   The committee found no evidence whatsoever to support the claim.

   He showed no interest whatsoever in the proposal.

   Similarwhatever

   Note

   Here the word follows rather than leads. It comes after the noun it intensifies and closes a negative phrase: no answer whatsoever, or "no evidences of genius whatsoever," as Winston Churchill writes in The Celebrity (1897). That position separates it from the use before a noun. It carries none of that use's formality and sits comfortably in plain speech. It has no comparative form, so there is no "more whatsoever."

2. 2
   determinerliteraryformal

   Used before a noun to mean 'whatever,' chiefly in formal or literary contexts.

   Whatsoever path you choose, the council will honor your decision.

   He vowed to surrender whatsoever lands he held to the crown.

   Similarwhatever, whichever

   Note

   Middle English passed it down whole, and its parts are plain: what + so + ever, one syllable longer than whatever. It introduces a noun that a following clause completes, as in whatsoever purpose the tenant desires. Milton uses it in Paradise Lost (1667): "In whatsoever shape he lurk." In everyday writing whatever does the same job, so whatsoever marks a sentence as formal or literary.

3. 3
   pronounarchaic

   Stands in for 'whatever (thing)'; used on its own as a pronoun in archaic or literary writing.

   Whatsoever is hidden shall in time be brought to light.

   Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

   1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

   Note

   A pronoun with a biblical ring, it often stands first so that the whole clause it opens becomes the object of the verb: "Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do," in the King James Bible of 1611. The pattern survives in deliberately elevated writing (Whatsoever you seek, you will find). In ordinary prose it sounds archaic, and whatever is the safe choice. Its makeup is the same as the use before a noun.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3