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whereby

UK/wɛə(ɹ)ˈbaɪ/US/wɛə(ɹ)ˈbaɪ/
adverbC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,487 of 15,258mostly written

Whereby means by which means. An arrangement whereby, a scheme whereby, the process whereby it happens.

It is formal and belongs to contracts and reports, and it always introduces a clause explaining how something works. Plain writing usually prefers by which or a full stop and a new sentence, and the meaning is not lost.

Definitions of whereby

  1. 1adverbwherebyBy which means.C1

    “The company introduced a scheme whereby staff can buy shares at a discount.”

whereby is a connective.

Where it comes from

Where plus by, one of a family with wherein, whereof and whereas.

From where + by.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

whereby in the wild

  • Lodgings may be self-catering, whereby no food is provided, but cooking facilities are available.

    Lodging

  • The mechanics of the agreement are similar across all variations of fixed-income instruments, whereby there is a fixed tenor and schedule of income payments.

    Fixed income arbitrage

  • An alternative system is the dry sump, whereby oil is pumped from a shallow sump into an external reservoir.

    Wet sump

  • A discharge is a type of sentence imposed by a court whereby no punishment is imposed.

    Discharge (sentence)

  • Co-ownership is a system whereby two football clubs own the contract of a player jointly, although the player is only registered to play for one club.

    Co-ownership (association football)

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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.