whom meaning (formal): definition, etymology and quotations

whom

pronalso spelled Whom

UK /hʉwm/ · /huːm/

Etymology From Middle English whom, wham, from Old English hwām, hwǣm, from Proto-Germanic *hwammai, dative case of *hwaz (“who, what”). Cognate with Scots wham (“whom”), German wem (“whom, to whom”), Danish hvem (“who, whom”), Swedish vem (“who, whom”).

› What person or people; which person or people.

Formal, Interrogative, Often As the object of a verb.

Whom did you ask?
“Oh?” she said. “So you have decided to revise my guest list for me? You have the nerve, the – the –” I saw she needed helping out. “Audacity,” I said, throwing her the line. “The audacity to dictate to me who I shall have in my house.” It should have been “whom”, but I let it go. “You have the –” “Crust.” “– the immortal rind,” she amended, and I had to admit it was stronger, “to tell me whom” – she got it right that time – “I may entertain at Brinkley Court and who” – wrong again – “I may not.”1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Formal, Interrogative, Often As the object of a preposition.

To whom are you referring?
With whom were you talking?

4 more examples

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
“A very hearty pip-pip to you, old ancestor,” I said, well pleased, for she is a woman with whom it is always a privilege to chew the fat. “And a rousing toodle-oo to you, you young blot on the landscape,” she replied cordially.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter I, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
The principal economic activity is copra production, the Government copra plantation covering some 5,170 ha. The population in 1989 was estimated at 2,000, the great majority of whom live in London, Banana and Poland villages in the west.1993, “A DIRECTORY OF WETLANDS IN OCEANIA”, in Wetlands International, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2018, page 188:

Formal, Often, Relative Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people.

That is the woman whom I spoke to earlier. (defining)
Mr Smith, whom we all know well, will be giving the speech. (non-defining)

4 more examples

He's a person with whom I work (defining)
We have ten employees, half of whom are carpenters. (non-defining)
There is a new girl in the class whom I consider to be a wunderkind.
She felt miserable unless she had neighbors with whom to quarrel regularly.

Formal, Often The person(s) whom; whomever.

Fused relative; archaic outside set patterns; fused relative; archaic outside set patterns

To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne.

Formal, Informal, Often Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.

Especially non-US

Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!

Derived terms: to whom it may concern, to whom this may concern, whom am I kidding, whomever, whom're, who whom

Whom

pron

Honorific Honorific alternative letter-case form of whom, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.

Related terms: Who, Whose