different between whatever vs enough

English

Etymology

what +? -ever

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??t??v?/, /w?t??v?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /w?t??v?/, /w????v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(r)

Unusually, the /t/ in whatever may be flapped in certain dialects, despite preceding a stressed syllable.

Determiner

whatever

1. no matter what; for any

2. (relative) Anything that.

Derived terms

• whateverism
• whateverness
• whatsoever

Related terms

• whatever creams your twinkie
• whatever floats your boat
• whatever it takes

Translations

Pronoun

whatever

1. No matter what; for any

2. (relative) Anything; sometimes used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options.

Translations

Interjection

whatever

2. (colloquial, dismissive) A holophrastic expression used discourteously to indicate that the speaker does not consider the matter worthy of further discussion.

Usage notes

• Tone of voice is particularly important here in playing up or playing down the dismissive quality of the word.

Synonyms

• so what
• whoopee do
• meh
• whatev

Translations

Adjective

whatever (comparative more whatever, superlative most whatever)

1. (colloquial) Unexceptional or unimportant; blah.
2. (dated, postpositive) At all, absolutely, whatsoever.
   • 1864, Charles Piazzi Smyth, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (page 207)

     So then arose the horrible confusion perpetuated ever since, of perversely different kinds of weights, jostling each other in Britain; Troy weight and Avoirdupois weight and Apothecaries' weight, wherein or whereamongst every one is at sea with regard to testing them, and no one whatever is satisfied.

Noun

whatever (plural whatevers)

1. (colloquial) Something whose exact kind or nature is unimportant; a thingy.
   • 2003, David Soubly, Santa, CEO (page 91)

     How would you feel if you're a plant elf, and your daily bonus is tied to the number of whatevers you produce, and then this big clumsy thing barges in and knocks your rate back for the whole week?

Related terms

References

• whatever at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• everwhat

English

Alternative forms

• enow
• anough (obsolete)
• aneuch, eneuch, eneugh (Scotland)
• 'nough
• enuff

Etymology

From Middle English ynogh, from Old English ?en?g (“enough”), from Proto-Germanic *gan?gaz (“enough”) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Low German noog, Danish nok, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from *ganugan? 'to suffice' (compare Old English ?eneah), or from *ga- + an unattested *n?gaz, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?eh?nó(n)?e (“he has reached, attained”), perfective of *h?ne?- (“to reach”) (compare Old Irish tánaic (“he arrived”), Latin nancisci (“to get”), Lithuanian nèšti (“to carry”), Albanian kënaq (“to please, satisfy”), Ancient Greek ???????? (enenkeîn, “to carry”).).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n?f/, /i?n?f/, /??n?f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Hyphenation: e?nough

Determiner

enough

1. Sufficient; all that is required, needed, or appropriate.

   • How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare!

Derived terms

• enoughness

Translations

Adverb

enough

1. Sufficiently.

   You've worked enough; rest for a bit.
2. Fully; quite; used after adjectives to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.
   • “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons?! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

3. Used after certain adverbs to emphasise that a quality is notable, unexpected, etc.

   Talking of Mr Smith, funnily enough, I saw him just the other day.

   I left my camera on the train, but luckily enough someone handed it in to lost property.

Usage notes

• As an adverb, in modern English, enough almost always follows the verb, adjective or adverb that it qualifies. In older language, cases where it precedes the modified word, e.g. "He was enough satisfied" or "I was not enough recompensed", may be seen.

Derived terms

• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

Translations

Pronoun

enough

1. A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.

   I have enough (of it) to keep me going.

   Enough of you are here to begin the class.

   Get some more plates. There aren’t enough yet.

   Not enough is known yet about the causes of the pandemic.

Translations

Interjection

enough!

1. Stop! Don't do that any more!

   I'm sick of you complaining! Enough!

Translations

Noun

enough (plural enoughs)

1. (rare, chiefly in the plural) An instance of being sufficient, or of doing something sufficiently.
   • 1909, Edwin Balmer, Waylaid by Wireless: A Suspicion, a Warning, a Sporting Proposition, and a Transatlantic Pursuit, page 29:

     And she was neither beautiful nor handsome, but just at the point halfway between which a girl of twenty-three reaches who inherits good features and healthful figure, and who has learned to dance well, ride well, study enough, golf enough, and has attained the thousand other "well and enoughs" which include talking well and listening enough, and allow a woman to be liked and loved with so little consciousness that she never suspects she is particularly liked at all.