# where

Pronunciation: say "WAIR" US /wɛəɹ/, UK /wɛə/

## Adverb

1. In, at or to what place, position, situation or condition, in direct or indirect questions.
   - Simple: Used to ask about a place, position or situation.
   - _Where did you park the car?_
   - _Do you know where the station is?_
2. In, at or to which, used after a noun referring to a place, or to a situation, case or stage.
   - Simple: Used after a place or situation word to say more about it, as in 'the house where' or 'a point where'.
   - _He wants a flat where he can work from home._
   - _That's the beach where the boat came ashore._
3. In the situation, case or circumstances in which ('where no provision under this Act is applicable, the case shall be decided…'), the legal and technical 'where'.
   - Simple: In a situation in which, as in 'where explosives are involved'.
   - _Where payment is late, interest is charged._
   - _Where possible, use recycled paper._
4. In, at or to the place that, or the place in which, something is or happens.
   - Simple: In, at or to the place that something is or happens.
   - _We walked to where the path ends._
   - _She pointed at where the ship had sunk._
5. A situation or case in which, used in giving definitions. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used in casual definitions, as in 'a draw is where nobody wins'.
   - _Overtime is where you work past your normal hours._
   - _Deadlock is where nobody will give way._
6. In, at or to any place that; wherever.
   - Simple: In or to any place that, meaning wherever.
   - _You may camp where the ground is flat._
   - _He follows the work, living where the jobs are._

## Conjunction

7. While on the contrary; whereas, setting one case against an opposite one.
   - Simple: Used to contrast two things, meaning 'whereas' or 'while'.
   - _Where his father was cautious, he was bold._
   - _The old plan was cheap, where the new one costs millions._
9. That, used after verbs of reading, hearing or seeing. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Means 'that' in casual speech, as in 'I read where they caught him'.
   - _I saw where the mill is up for sale._
   - _She heard where the school might close._

## Noun

8. The place of an event as a noun, mostly in the reporter's list ('the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how'); plural 'wheres'.
   - Simple: The place where something happens, used as a noun.
   - _Every story needs a where as well as a who._
   - _They argued about the wheres and the hows for weeks._

## Origin

Middle English wher came from Old English hwǣr, which meant "where" and literally "at what place." Further back it comes from Proto-West Germanic *hwār and Proto-Germanic *hwar, and in the end from *kʷo-, the Proto-Indo-European pronoun used in questions.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/where (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).