Word.ws English Dictionary

whatnots

whatnots is the plural of whatnot.

Meaning of whatnot

Noun

whatnot (plural whatnots)

  1. (countable) A small unspecified object; bric-a-brac (in plural).
    • Storage boxes—catchalls for flotsam, jetsam, whatnots and thingamajigs—are gaining new interest as decorative objects for the home.1991 May 30, Emily Gwathmey, “Storage Box: Catchall's New Life as Eye-Catcher”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2024
  2. (uncountable, set phrase) Other related objects or ideas.
    • At the lexicography club, we welcome all discussion of words and whatnot.
  3. A freestanding set of shelves on which ornaments are displayed; an etagere.
    • On a whatnot in a corner which had been devoted to the child's belongings were Franky's paint-box and some of his toys.1913, Mary E. Mann, Mrs. Day's Daughters, Hodder & Stoughton

Questions about whatnots

What is whatnots the plural of?
Whatnots is the plural of whatnot.

Words near whatnots in the dictionary

  1. Whatman papers
  2. whatna
  3. whatness
  4. whatnesses
  5. whatnot
  6. whatnots
  7. whatnottery
  8. whats
  9. whats'erface
  10. whats'ername
  11. whats'ernames

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whatnots (page history and authors); whatnot (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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Cite this entry: “whatnots.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whatnots. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.