however meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

however

adv

UK /haʊˈɛvə/ · CA, US /haʊˈɛvɚ/

Etymology From Middle English however, how-ever, how-evere; equivalent to how + ever. Compare howsoever.

8 senses

Conjunctive Nevertheless; yet, still; in spite of that.

He told me not to do it. However, I did it anyway. / I did it anyway, however. / I, however, did it anyway.
She wanted to go; however, she decided against it.

4 more examples

I didn't argue with him; I still think, however, that he is wrong.
Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

Conjunctive In contrast.

The conference itself went very well. The party afterwards, however, was a disaster.

Regardless of how; no matter how

Degree; fused relative; degree; fused relative

However clear you think you've been, and however many questions you may've answered, there'll always remain some doubts.
Any rule of thumb, however true (it is), is useless unless you understand its underlying logic.

2 more examples

However much I study, I never get good grades.
Elinor, however little concerned in it, joined in their discourse; and Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the family in general, soon procured herself a book.1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 42:

Manner Regardless of how; regardless of the way in which.

2 more examples

Elinor, however little concerned in it, joined in their discourse; and Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the family in general, soon procured herself a book.1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 42:
But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:

Manner In any way in which; how.

Manner Informal In any way that one likes or chooses; in a haphazard or spontaneous way.

Interrogative How ever: an emphatic form of how, used to ask in what manner.

Obsolete In any case, at any rate, at all events.

Our chief end and highest interest is happiness : And this is happiness to be freed from all (if it may) [or] however from the greatest evils.c. 1680, John Tillotson

conj

Etymology From Middle English however, how-ever, how-evere; equivalent to how + ever. Compare howsoever.

Proscribed But, yet, though, although.