What does whomever mean?
Whomever is the objective-case form of the indefinite relative pronoun whoever, meaning “any person who” or “the person whom.” It is used when the pronoun functions as the object of a verb or follows a preposition, as in “The document was sent to whomever requested it.” The related form whoever normally serves as the subject, so “Whoever wrote the letter will receive a reply” contrasts with “Give the letter to whomever wrote it.” Whomever has a distinctly formal character and appears frequently in legal notices, official correspondence, and literary prose, whereas everyday speakers often use whom or a simpler relative construction. Although it preserves the older distinction between subject and object forms of wh- pronouns, whomever is now less common than whoever. Its value is stylistic: it adds emphasis and formality while clearly marking the person affected by an action or the recipient of something.
pronounWhomever is the objective-case form of the indefinite relative pronoun whoever, used as the object of a verb or preposition. It is especially common in formal, legal, and literary English.
- Objective case of the indefinite relative pronoun whoever, used as the object of a verb or preposition.
"The scholarship may be awarded to whomever the committee chooses."
"The award may be given to whomever the committee selects."
"For whomever it may concern, the deadline for applications is Friday."
Whomever is the formal, object-case version of whoever: it names the person who receives something, rather than the person who performs the action.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of whomever
Whomever belongs to the English family of indefinite relative pronouns built on whoever, whose components combine an Old English word for “who” with an element related to “so” and an “ever” suffix. The separate forms whoever and whomever preserve the older grammatical contrast between subject and objective cases. English later simplified most such distinctions, but whomever survived as a formal usage rather than being entirely replaced by whom.
How whomever is actually used
Whomever is more common in legal, official, and literary English than in everyday conversation. In modern informal usage, whom or whoever is often preferred.
Easily confused with whomever
Whoever is normally the subject form, as in “Whoever called will win,” while whomever is the objective form, as in “Give the prize to whomever called.”
Whom is the ordinary objective form of who, whereas whomever is a more emphatic and indefinite equivalent often used in formal contexts.