whosever

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhuzˌɛvəɹ/, /ˌhuzˈɛvəɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Etymology 1

From whose +‎ -ever.

Alternative forms

• whoseever (rare)

Determiner

whosever (formal)

1. (possessive) Of whomever; belonging or related to whichever person or persons; whoever's.

   Whosever sunglasses these are will have to pick them up tomorrow.

   • 1866, Mark Twain, The Galaxy, W.C and F.P. Church, page 584:

     "And she is not wholesome, whosever word it was. She was there, hanging about him when he was so bad, before the worst came."

Pronoun

whosever (formal)

1. (possessive) That of whomever; that which belongs or is related to whatever person or persons; whoever's.
   • 1930, Margaret Ayer Barnes, Years of Grace, Part III, Chapter III, page 303:

     At first she had been only relieved to find that the voice, whosever it was, trickling over the wire, was not his.

Usage notes

In everyday language, whoever's is usually used instead.

See also

• whosesoever

Etymology 2

From whoever with who's replacing who.

Contraction

whosever

1. (proscribed) whoever is.
   • 1997 January 7, Raj Capoor, “S. Augmon wants out cont'd”, in alt.sports.basketball.nba.det-pistons‎^[1] (Usenet):

     This would make J. Dumars come off the bench and sometimes give us a nice 3 guard line-up sometimes with Hunter at SG, Dumars at SF, and whosever in between the pg's from GS.

   • 2000 July 20, Michael J. Sacks, “It's started already”, in alt.sports.baseball.chicago-cubs‎^[2] (Usenet):

     People keep passing the buck to whosever left to blame.

   • 2004 September 12, Storm, “Will Hewitt Make Tennis Slam History Tomorrow?”, in rec.sport.tennis‎^[3] (Usenet):

     He can only play whosever on the other side of the net.

   • 2013 October 11, Joshua Hamilton, “The Sting” (6:17 from the start), in Ian Graham, director, The Legend of Korra, season 2, episode 6, spoken by Mako (David Faustino):

     Don't worry. I'm gonna find whosever responsible.

Anagrams

• whoever's, howsever