¹whose

adjective \ˈhüz, üz\

—used in questions to ask who owns something, has something, etc.

—used to show which person or thing you are talking about

—used to give more information about a person or thing that has already been mentioned

Full Definition of WHOSE

: of or relating to whom or which especially as possessor or possessors <whose gorgeous vesture heaps the ground — Robert Browning>, agent or agents <the law courts, whose decisions were important — F. L. Mott>, or object or objects of an action <the first poem whose publication he ever sanctioned — J. W. Krutch>

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Examples of WHOSE

The granddaddy of all metafictional novels was Tristram Shandy, whose narrator's dialogues with his imaginary readers are only one of many ways in which Sterne foregrounds the gap between art and life that conventional realism seeks to conceal. —David Lodge, The Art of Fiction, 1992
In early times when I sat with my grandfather … I was puzzled about the relation between the Davis who had lived in a world of great events and my Old Jeff, whose name had entered into the common speech of the region … —Robert Penn Warren, Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back, 1980
He was a flamboyant, excited person whose eyes darted here and there, like a child's, afraid of what they might miss. —E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1974
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Origin of WHOSE

Middle English whos, genitive of who, what

First Known Use: before 12th century

Rhymes with WHOSE

blues, booze, bruise, choose, cruise, cruse, Druze, flews, fuse, lose, Meuse, muse, news, ooze, Ouse, roose, ruse, schmooze, snooze, trews, use

²whose

pronoun, singular or plural in construction \ˈhüz, üz\

Definition of WHOSE

: that which belongs to whom —used without a following noun as a pronoun equivalent in meaning to the adjective whose <tell me whose it was — Shakespeare>

Examples of WHOSE

Though life here is a dangerous business for olive trees, in summer the children roam the streets alone, and well into the night. Everyone knows whose are whose, and keeps an eye out. —David Leavitt, Travel & Leisure, May 2000
And now for the Ignorance and Folly which he reproaches us with, let us see (if we are Fools and Ignoramus's) whose is the Fault, the Men's or our's. —Benjamin Franklin, 28 May 1722 in Benjamin Franklin Writings, 1987
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