Word.ws English Dictionary

what if

what if adverb: used to introduce a suggestion or proposal for a future event.

Adverb

what if (not comparable)

  1. Used to introduce a suggestion or proposal for a future event.
    • What if we arrange it for 9:00 instead of 10:00?
  2. Used to introduce a speculation about a future event.
    • What if we could learn to get along? What would happen then?
  3. Used to introduce a speculation about a past event. Often the basis for counterfactual historical interpretations.
    • What if Abraham Lincoln had not been assassinated? How might the Reconstruction of the Southern States have been handled?

what if meaning in Nepali

what if in Nepali

what if
भने bhane

Synonyms of what if

Origin of what if

Dates back at least to Old English hwæt ġif, of the same meaning. A similar expression occurs in Latin in the Vulgate, Acts 23:9, "Factus est autem clamor magnus. Et surgentes quidam pharisaeorum, pugnabant, decentes: Nihil mali inveniumus in homine isto: quid si Spiritus locutus est ei, aut angelus?" ("And there arose a great cry. And some of the Pharisees rising up, strove, saying: We find no evil in this man. What if a spirit hath spoken to him, or an angel?" Douay-Rheims translation)

Words formed from what if

Questions about what if

What does what if mean?
What if means used to introduce a suggestion or proposal for a future event.
What is what if in Nepali?
What if in Nepali is भने (bhane). See What if meaning in Nepali.
What part of speech is what if?
What if is an adverb.

Words near what if in the dictionary

  1. what has been seen cannot be unseen
  2. what has someone done
  3. what hath God wrought
  4. what have you
  5. what ho
  6. what if
  7. what in tarnation
  8. what in the world
  9. what in time
  10. what is her name
  11. what is his name

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: what if (page history and authors); भने (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-what if.wav.

Cite this entry: “what if.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/what_if. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.