the whys and wherefores
(redirected from the whys and the wherefores)the whys and wherefores
The various underlying factors that cause or contribute (to something). I don't need the whys and wherefores of the delay, I just want to know when the project will be done. The tour guide was very interesting, really digging into the whys and wherefores of the city's troubled past.
whys and wherefores
All the underlying causes and reasons, as in She went into the whys and wherefores of the adoption agency's rules and procedures. This idiom today is a redundancy since why and wherefore mean the same thing. Formerly, however, why indicated the reason for something and wherefore how it came to be. [c. 1600]
the whys and wherefores
The whys and wherefores of something are the reasons for it. Even successful bosses need to be queried about the whys and wherefores of their actions. He is not interested in discussing the whys and wherefores of his time abroad. Note: `Wherefore' is an old-fashioned word meaning `for what' or `why'.
the whys and wherefores
the reasons for or details of something. 1991 Gramophone At this time I was desperate to know all the whys and wherefores of a really advanced technique.
the ˌwhys and (the) ˈwherefores (of something)
the reasons (for something): I don’t really want to know all the whys and the wherefores. Just tell me what happened.whys and wherefores, the
The underlying reasons. Although this alliterative term seems tautological, originally why alluded to the reason for something, and wherefore to how it came to be. However, wherefore also was, in the sixteenth century, used in the meaning of “because.” Thus George Gascoigne (Supposes, 1566) wrote, “I have given you a wherefore for this why many times,” and Samuel Butler (Hudibras, 1663), “Whatever Sceptic could inquire for, For ev’ry why he had a wherefore.” Today, however, the term is simply a cliché for all the reasons for something.