WHY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does why mean? 

• WHY (noun)
  The noun WHY has 1 sense:

1. the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase 'the whys and wherefores'

  Familiarity information: WHY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase 'the whys and wherefores'

Classified under:

Nouns denoting goals

Synonyms:

wherefore; why

Hypernyms ("why" is a kind of...):

ground; reason (a rational motive for a belief or action)

 Context examples 

Why use heat-sensitive instruments when looking for ice?

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)

Why did he not do so?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why, then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness—to glory?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Well, why did they want him to do it?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This is why cholesterol inside LDL lipoproteins is called bad cholesterol.

(Low Density Lipoprotein, NCI Thesaurus)

Why am I to give an account of myself?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And at last he knew the meaning of life and why he had been born.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I know there is sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The patient is given a chance to ask questions about what will happen during the trial, why it’s being done, and what they will be asked to do.

(Assent process, NCI Dictionary)

Why, young fellah, where HAVE you lived?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)