English

Adverb

wherefore ‎(not comparable)

1. (conjunctive, archaic) Why, for what reason, because of what.
   • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1

     "Good morning, Mrs. Denny," he said. "Wherefore this worried look on your face? Has that reprobate James been misbehaving himself?"

   • "Job", Holy Bible King James Version, 21:7:

     Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

     Romeo, O Romeo. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

   • 1595, William Shakespeare, A Comedy of Errors

     Every why hath a wherefore.

2. (conjunctive, archaic or formal) Therefore.

Usage notes

• A common misconception is that wherefore means where; it has even been used in that sense in cartoon depictions of Romeo and Juliet(Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?), often played for comedic effect. In Romeo and Juliet, the meaning of “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” (Act 2, scene 2, line 33) is not “Where are you, Romeo?” but “Why are you Romeo?” (i.e. “Why did you have to be a Montague?”).^[1]

See also

• Category:English pronominal adverbs

Conjunction

wherefore

1. (archaic) Because of which.

   • Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
     Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. (Isaiah 30:12-13)
   • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:

     Wherefore it was that by the time the authorities awoke to the fact that something had happened Billy Byrne was fifty miles west of Joliet, bowling along aboard a fast Santa Fe freight.

Translations

Noun

wherefore ‎(plural wherefores)

1. An intent or purpose; a why.
   • 1996, Richard Bausch, Good evening Mr. & Mrs. America, and all the ships at sea, page 72:

     They want their money without reference to the hows and wherefores.

Derived terms

References

1. ↑ “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?”, The Phrase Finder, Gary Martin.