however

Etymology
From, , ; equivalent to. Compare.

Adverb

 * 1)  Nevertheless; yet, still; in spite of that.
 * 2)  In contrast.
 * The conference itself went very well. The party afterwards, however, was a disaster.
 * 1)  To whatever degree or extent.
 * 2)  In any way that one likes or chooses; in a haphazard or spontaneous way.
 * I don't care; just do it however.
 * Nothing was really planned; things just happened however.
 * 1)  How ever:.
 * I thought it was impossible. However were you able to do it?
 * 1)  In any case, at any rate, at all events.
 * 2) * c. 1680, John Tillotson:
 * Our chief end and highest interest is happiness : And this is happiness to be freed from all (if it may) [or] however from the greatest evils.
 * 1)  In any way that one likes or chooses; in a haphazard or spontaneous way.
 * I don't care; just do it however.
 * Nothing was really planned; things just happened however.
 * 1)  How ever:.
 * I thought it was impossible. However were you able to do it?
 * 1)  In any case, at any rate, at all events.
 * 2) * c. 1680, John Tillotson:
 * Our chief end and highest interest is happiness : And this is happiness to be freed from all (if it may) [or] however from the greatest evils.

Usage notes
Traditionally, some commentators have objected to the use of "however" at the start of a sentence in the sense of "nevertheless", but in practice this is widely accepted.

The use of a comma before "however" as a means of connecting independent clauses in the sense of "nevertheless", as in "She wanted to go, however she decided against it", is traditionally considered an error, equivalent to using "however" as a proscribed conjunction (see below). Compare the prescriptively correct sentence "She wanted to go, but she decided against it", which uses a true conjunction "but".

Synonyms

 * ,, , ; , , ; see also Thesaurus:nevertheless and Thesaurus:regardless
 * + (see Thesaurus:the dickens)
 * + (see Thesaurus:the dickens)
 * + (see Thesaurus:the dickens)

Translations

 * Albanian:
 * Arabic:, , وَلٰكِن, وَلٰكِنَّ, رَغْمَ ذٰلِك
 * Moroccan Arabic: وخى هد شي
 * Armenian:
 * Asturian: sin embargu
 * Basque:
 * Belarusian:, тым не ме́нш
 * Bulgarian:
 * Burmese:
 * Catalan: ,
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, , ,
 * Czech: ,
 * Danish:
 * Dutch:, ,
 * Esperanto: kontraŭe,
 * Finnish:
 * French:, , , ,
 * Old French: nepourquant
 * Georgian: მიუხედავად ამისა
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Ancient: μέντοι
 * Hebrew: אף על פי כן, למרות זאת
 * Hindi: फिर भी
 * Hungarian:, , ,
 * Ilocano: ngem
 * Irish: áfach
 * Old Irish: immurgu
 * Italian:, ,
 * Japanese:, , , , けれど, けども,
 * Kapampangan: onyang, oneng
 * Korean:, , , ,
 * Kurdish:
 * Northern Kurdish:, ,
 * Latin:, utut
 * Lingala: ndé
 * Lushootseed: ʔiwəɬ
 * Macedonian: меѓутоа
 * Malay: walau bagaimana
 * Maltese: madankollu
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:, ,
 * Occitan:
 * Persian:, با این حال
 * Polish: ,
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian: ,
 * Russian: ,
 * Scots: houaniver
 * Scottish Gaelic: ge-tà
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: међутим
 * Roman:
 * Slovak: však
 * Slovene: vendar
 * Sorbian:
 * Lower Sorbian: pak
 * Spanish:, ,
 * Swedish:, ,
 * Tagalog: subalit
 * Thai:
 * Turkish:, , ,
 * Ukrainian: одна́к, проте́
 * Vietnamese:
 * Votic: fśoravno
 * Walloon:, , mågré tot
 * West Flemish: pertank
 * Zazaki: labelê


 * Bulgarian: все пак
 * Esperanto: kiom ajn
 * Finnish: kuinka tahansa, miten tahansa
 * French:
 * German: egal wie
 * Hungarian: with verbs or predicate adjectives /, with predicate adjectives only  /
 * Irish: dá
 * Macedonian: сепак
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: uansett hvor, uten omsyn til hvor
 * Welsh: er mor, pa mor


 * Czech:
 * Dutch: eender hoe
 * Finnish: miten tahansa
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Indonesian:, ,
 * Irish: arae
 * Norwegian: på den måten, på hvilken måte; uansett hvor, hvor mye
 * Romanian: ; oricât de
 * Swedish:
 * Volapük:

Conjunction

 * 1) Regardless of the way in which.
 * 2) In any way in which.
 * She offered to help however she could.
 * Wear your hair however you want.
 * 1)  But, yet, though, although.
 * *She wanted to go, however she decided against it.
 * Wear your hair however you want.
 * 1)  But, yet, though, although.
 * *She wanted to go, however she decided against it.

Usage notes
See the usage notes for adverb senses, above.

Derived terms

 * however one slices it

Translations

 * Arabic: كَيْفَ, كَيْفَمَا
 * Dutch: hoe dan ook
 * Esperanto: kiel ajn
 * French: de quelque manière que ce soit, quelle que soit sa manière
 * German: wie auch immer
 * Hungarian:,  ,  ,  , ahogy csak, ahogyan csak
 * Italian:
 * Portuguese: de qualquer modo
 * Spanish: de cualquier forma