whither
Definition
- Adverb (archaic or literary):
- To what place or destination: "whither" is used to ask or indicate the direction or endpoint of movement or development.
- To which place: It can introduce a clause specifying a location or outcome.
Usage Examples
- (To what place are you travelling?)
- (Allow him to go to whatever place he chooses.)
- (Where is the United States heading in terms of direction or future?)
Advanced Usage
- "Whither goest thou?" (archaic form of "Where are you going?")
- "Whither now?" (A rhetorical question asking about the future direction of something.)
- Whither now, after the election results? (What direction will things take now?)
Variants and Related Words
Whithersoever (adv): to whatever place; an intensified form.
- You may travel whithersoever you please. (You may go to any place you wish.)
Hither (adv): to this place (opposite of "whither").
- Come hither. (Come to this place.)
Thither (adv): to that place (related directional term).
- He went thither. (He went to that place.)
Synonyms
- Where: modern equivalent in most contexts.
- Where are you going? (instead of "Whither are you going?")
- To what place: a more explicit phrase.
- Whereto (archaic): to what place.
Related Idioms
Whither goest thou? (archaic biblical phrase): a question about one's destination or purpose.
- In times of crisis, we ask, "Whither goest thou?" (We question our direction.)
Whither and whence: to where and from where (used together for completeness of movement).
- He knew neither whither nor whence he travelled. (He knew neither the destination nor the origin of his journey.)
Word Family
- Whither is part of a set of archaic directional words: (to here), (to there), (to where), (from where).