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whatsoever

UK/ˌwɒtsəʊˈɛvə(ɹ)/US/ˌ(h)wʌtsoʊˈɛvɚ/
adverbB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,621 of 15,258leans spoken

Whatsoever means at all, and it makes a negative absolute. No evidence whatsoever, none whatsoever, nothing whatsoever to do with it.

It goes after the noun rather than before it, which is unusual in English, and it only works with a negative — no doubt whatsoever is fine, some doubt whatsoever is not. Whatever does the same job less emphatically.

Definitions of whatsoever

  1. 1adverbwhatsoeverAt all, used to make a negative absolute.B2

    “I have no idea whatsoever where I left my keys.”

whatsoever is an intensifier.

Where it comes from

Middle English whatsoever, from what plus so plus ever, all three intensifying one another.

  1. Middle English

    whatsoever

  2. English, today

    whatsoever

From Middle English whatsoever. by surface analysis, what + so + -ever.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

whatsoever in the wild

  • The term is also used when no skill whatsoever is involved, such as a first-time slot machine player winning the jackpot.

    Beginner's luck

  • The death penalty shall not be imposed on any grounds whatsoever in the Republic of Macedonia." North Macedonia is a member of the Council of Europe.

    Capital punishment in North Macedonia

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.