How do you pronounce wherewithal?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɛɚ.wɪ.ðɔl/.

wherewithal

/ˈwɛɚ.wɪ.ðɔl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.58 in modern English

Syllables: where-with-al
IPA: /ˈwɛɚ.wɪ.ðɔl/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The ability and means required to accomplish some task.

Countable; Uncountable

adv

In what way; how.

Archaic

adv

By means of which.

Archaic

Example Sentences

"I would like to help your project, but I do not have the wherewithal."
"Justice was sold at the tribunals, and the most enormous crimes escaped from punishment, when the criminals had wherewithal to corrupt their judges."
"Big Council meeting! At the bookshop in twenty minutes. Carfare will be refunded. Can we scrape together the wherewithal?"
""I just can't imagine," Philip said, "having that kind of self-knowledge, that kind of...wherewithal at fifteen.[…]""
"[…] A single slice of this could leave you supine in front of the Queen's speech without even the wherewithal to reach for the remote control."
"Although Emma comes to realise she's trapped in a kind of hell, married to a dullard she despises, she lacks the intellectual wherewithal to plot a breakout more sophisticated than consorting with idiots such as Leon and Rodolphe."

Etymology

From where- + withal. Originally only an adverb, nominal use since ca. 1800.

Word Breakdown

Prefix: where-
Suffix: withal

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈwɛɚ.wɪ.ðɔl/
British English: /ˈwɛə.wɪ.ðɔːl/

Usage

Inflected Forms

wherewithals (plural)

Phrases

1. Scottish2. from Middle English mid3. old dialectal form

Frequently Paired Words

wherewith withal — henceafter henceforth henceforward henceforwards hencefrom

Synonyms

whereby wherewith means