where

adv

1. (interrogative, not-comparable)In, at or to what place.

   “Where are you?”

   “He asked where I grew up.”

   “Where are you going?”

   “Where you going?”

   “I've forgotten where I was in this book, but it was probably around chapter four.”

2. (not-comparable)In what situation.

   “Where would we be without our parents?”

3. (not-comparable)In, at or to the place (that) or a place (that).

   “Stay where you are.”

   “Go back where you came from.”

   “Let's go where it's warmer.”

   “Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.”

4. (not-comparable)In, at or to any place (that); wherever; anywhere.

   “Please sit where you like.”

   “Their job is to go where they are called.”

5. (not-comparable, relative)In, at or to which.

   “This is the place where we first met.”

   “He is looking for a house where he can have a complete office.”

   “That's the place where we went on holiday.”

   “Here's a picture of York, where I was born.”

   “Show me an example where it happened that way.”

6. (not-comparable)The place in, at or to which.

   “He lives within five miles of where he was born.”

   “This is a photo of where I went on holiday.”

   “Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.”

7. (informal, not-comparable)A situation or case in which.

   “A function is where two variables are related.”

8. (not-comparable)In a/the situation, position, case, etc. in which.

   “You cannot be too careful where explosives are involved.”

   “Where no provision under this Act is applicable, the case shall be decided in accordance with the customary practices.”

conj

1. While on the contrary; although; whereas.

   “And flight and die is death destroying death; Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.”

   “July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/ Where the Joker preys on our fears of random, irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.”

   “Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.”

   “Where Susy has trouble coloring inside the lines, Johnny has already mastered shading.”

2. (informal)That.

   “I read where they caught the guy.”

pron

1. (interrogative)What place.

   “Where did you come from?”

   “Where are you at?”

   “Where are you off to?”

   “Where you off to?”

   “Do you know where you came from?”

noun

1. The place in which something happens.

   “A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.”

   “Finding the nymph a sleepe in secret wheare”