different between whither vs writhing

English

Etymology

From Old English hwider, alteration of hwæder, from Proto-Germanic *hwadrê.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???ð?/; enPR: hw?th??r
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???ð?/
• (in accents with the wine-whine merger) IPA^(key): /?w?ð?/, /?w?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)
• Homophone: wither (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Adverb

whither (not comparable)

1. (archaic, formal, poetic or literary) To what place.
   • 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Penguin Red Classics, paperback edition, page 24

     And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police station, whither the body had been carried.

   • 1918, Willa Cather, My Antonia, Mirado Modern Classics, paperback edition, page 8

     The wagon jolted on, carrying me I knew not whither.

Usage notes

• This word is unusual in modern usage; (to) where is much more common. It is more often encountered in older works or when used poetically or jocularly.
• It is also sometimes used as a rhetorical device by journalists and other writers in headlines, with the meaning "What will the future bring for ..."
• Do not confuse with whether or wither.
• Compare to the inanimate pronoun "whereto" which follows the pattern of "preposition + what" or "preposition + which".

Antonyms

• whence

Derived terms

Related terms

• hither
• thither
• whithersoever

Translations

Verb

whither (third-person singular simple present whithers, present participle whithering, simple past and past participle whithered)

1. (intransitive, obsolete, dialectal) To wuther.

English

Etymology

From Middle English writhyng; equivalent to writhe +? -ing.

Adjective

writhing (not comparable)

1. Bended in twisting struggle.

Translations

Verb

writhing

1. present participle of writhe

Noun

writhing (plural writhings)

1. A twisting struggle.