WHY meaning: Reason or cause for something

We found 36 dictionaries that define the word why:

General (29 matching dictionaries)

why: Merriam-Webster.com
why, why: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
why: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
why: Collins English Dictionary
why: Vocabulary.com
WHy, Why, Why, why: Wordnik
why: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
why: Wiktionary
why: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
why: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
why: Infoplease Dictionary
why: Dictionary.com
why: Online Etymology Dictionary
why: Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary
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Why: Online Plain Text English Dictionary
why: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition
why: Rhymezone
why: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
why: Webster's 1828 Dictionary
WHY: Stammtisch Beau Fleuve Acronyms
why: Free Dictionary
why: Mnemonic Dictionary
why: LookWAYup Translating Dictionary/Thesaurus
why: Dictionary/thesaurus
why: Wikimedia Commons US English Pronunciations
Why: Wordnik

Medicine (1 matching dictionary)

online medical dictionary (No longer online)

Miscellaneous (4 matching dictionaries)

WHY: Acronym Finder
WHY: Three Letter Words with definitions
AbbreviationZ (No longer online)
why: Idioms

Science (1 matching dictionary)

Misunderstood Physics Terms (No longer online)

Slang (1 matching dictionary)

WHY, Why: Urban Dictionary

(Note: See whys as well.)

Google, News, Wikipedia, Reddit, X, BlueSky, Kagi

Definitions from Wiktionary (

)

▸ adverb:  (interrogative) For what cause, reason, or purpose.
▸ adverb:  Introducing a complete question.
▸ adverb:  With a negative, used rhetorically to make a suggestion.
▸ adverb:  Introducing a verb phrase (bare infinitive clause).
▸ adverb:  Introducing a noun or other phrase.
▸ adverb:  (relative) For which cause, reason, or purpose.
▸ adverb:  (fused relative) The cause, reason, or purpose for which.
▸ noun:  Reason.
▸ verb:  (intransitive, transitive) To ask (someone) the question "why?".
▸ noun:  (UK, dialect, archaic) A young heifer.
▸ noun:  Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin-script letter Y/y. [The name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.]

Similar:

how come, wherefore, what, how, reason, exactly, anyway, not, actually, because, more...

Opposite:

how, what, when, where, who

Types:

motive, reason, cause, more...

Phrases:

why not, for why, why bother, Why Me, thats why, more...

Adjectives:

part, what, reason, new, see, important, introduction, huge, modern, big, incessant

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