Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#HOWEVERCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#HOWEVER however, how-ever, how-evere; equivalent to how +‎ everCategory:English univerbations#HOWEVER. Compare howsoever.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /haʊˈɛvə/Category:English 3-syllable words#HOWEVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOWEVER
• (General American, Canada) enPR: houĕvʹər, IPA^(key): /haʊˈɛvɚ/Category:English 3-syllable words#HOWEVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOWEVER

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#HOWEVER
• (New York City) IPA^(key): /hɑˈwɛvə(ɹ)/Category:English 3-syllable words#HOWEVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOWEVER
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /hæɔˈevə/Category:English 4-syllable words#HOWEVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOWEVER
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /hæʊˈevə/Category:English 3-syllable words#HOWEVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HOWEVER
• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/ɛvə(ɹ)#HOWEVERCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛvə(ɹ)/3 syllables#HOWEVER
• Hyphenation: how‧ev‧er

Adverb

however (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#HOWEVERCategory:English adverbs#HOWEVERCategory:English uncomparable adverbs#HOWEVERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HOWEVERCategory:Pages with entries#HOWEVERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#HOWEVER

1. (conjunctive) Nevertheless; yet, still; in spite of that.

   Synonyms: nonetheless, notwithstanding, that said, still and all, in any case, after all, anyway; see also Thesaurus:nevertheless, Thesaurus:regardless

   Coordinate term: but (conjunction)

   He told me not to do it. However, I did it anyway. / I did it anyway, however. / I, however, did it anyway.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   She wanted to go; however, she decided against it.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   I didn't argue with him; I still think, however, that he is wrong.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOWEVER

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOWEVER

   • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

     Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOWEVER

2. (conjunctive) In contrast.

   The conference itself went very well. The party afterwards, however, was a disaster.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

3. (degree, fused relative) Regardless of how; no matter how

   Synonyms: howsoever, howso, howsoevermuch

   However clear you think you've been, and however many questions you may've answered, there'll always remain some doubts.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   Any rule of thumb, however true (it is), is useless unless you understand its underlying logic.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   However much I study, I never get good grades.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 42:

     Elinor, however little concerned in it, joined in their discourse; and Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the family in general, soon procured herself a book.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOWEVER

4. (manner, fused relative) Regardless of how; regardless of the way in which.

   Synonyms: howsoever, howso, anyhow

   Let me know when you've had your interview, however it goes.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   However we do this, it isn't going to work.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 42:

     Elinor, however little concerned in it, joined in their discourse; and Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the family in general, soon procured herself a book.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOWEVER

   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:

     But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOWEVER

5. (manner, fused relative) In any way in which; how.

   She offered to help however she could.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   Wear your hair however you want.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

6. (informalCategory:English informal terms#HOWEVER, manner) In any way that one likes or chooses; in a haphazard or spontaneous way.

   I don't care; just do it however.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

   Nothing was really planned; things just happened however.Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

8. (interrogative) How ever: an emphatic form of how, used to ask in what manner.

   Synonyms: how + the dickens; see also Thesaurus:the dickens

   Coordinate term: whatever

   I thought it was impossible. However were you able to do it?

   Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

9. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#HOWEVER) In any case, at any rate, at all events.
   • c. 1680, John Tillotson:

     Our chief end and highest interest is happiness : And this is happiness to be freed from all (if it may) [or] however from the greatest evils.

Conjunction

howeverCategory:English lemmas#HOWEVERCategory:English conjunctions#HOWEVERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HOWEVERCategory:Pages with entries#HOWEVERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#HOWEVER

1. (proscribedCategory:English proscribed terms#HOWEVER) But, yet, though, although.

   *She wanted to go, however she decided against it. (proscribed)Category:English terms with usage examples#HOWEVER

References

• “however”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “however”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "however (degree)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• "however (despite)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• "however (way)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “however”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)

Anagrams

• everwho, whoever