The word why in example sentences

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Adverb



Why did you quit your job?



Why is the sky blue?



Why didn’t you call me?



Why didn’t I think of that?



“I can’t go out tonight.” “Why not?”

Conjunction



I know why he did it.



It’s easy to see why she fell in love with him.



He’s a very good player. That’s why he made the team.



The reason why they succeeded is obvious. They worked really hard.



Give me one good reason why I should stay.

Noun



asked the whys behind the surprising decision



how one decides that a certain he or she is “the one” is one of the great whys of life

Interjection



why, what a strange thing to say!

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Recent Examples on the Web



Several wanted to know why the Chinese airship was allowed to float all the way to the Atlantic Ocean before it was shot down.


Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2023





Police did not say how or why the shooting took place and, as of Friday, no arrests had been made.


Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 10 Feb. 2023





At a separate Senate subcommittee hearing, lawmakers repeatedly pressed administration officials, including Pentagon military leaders, about why the balloon was not shot down over sparsely populated areas of Alaska.


Matthew Lee And Eric Tucker, ajc, 10 Feb. 2023





That continuance prompted Bolden to use profanity on the courthouse steps when speaking at a news conference, and is part of why Griggsby is seeking to hold him in criminal contempt.


Lee O. Sanderlin, Baltimore Sun, 10 Feb. 2023





This is also a population-level study, so there is no way to pinpoint exactly why people exposed to these kinds of air pollutions would have a higher risk of depression.


Jen Christensen, CNN, 10 Feb. 2023





If your dentist wants to X-ray your teeth, Dr. Hershkowitz recommends asking them why.


Drew Schwartz, SELF, 10 Feb. 2023





The notes do not go into detail on why the Archives would have sought the material that was sent to Boston.


Colleen Long, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Feb. 2023





That helps explain why so many of Home Title Lock’s ads and promotional materials have featured high-profile conservative personalities such as Gingrich and Giuliani.


Mike Levine, ABC News, 10 Feb. 2023




There’s got to be a why.


Vulture, 29 Mar. 2023





The show never aims its considerable wit and girl power vibe to get a firm grip on the troubling tributaries that flow just underneath the why-ness of the show: These women, nobility be damned, are one and all inextricably tied to a fundamentally-flawed man.


Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 12 Oct. 2022





Cain opines on the why-and-how of private mega-yachts, which have grown mind-bogglingly massive (such as the 533-foot-long Eclipse, replete with submarine, owned by Russian business mogul Roman Abramovich).


Laura Manske, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2021





Not everyone may want to abandon teaching manners altogether, but these insights do suggest rethinking our approach, focusing as much on the why of courtesy as the how.


BostonGlobe.com, 23 Oct. 2019





Worst of all, the cult of lethality attempts to divorce the how of killing from the why, an insane proposition given that military force is deployed in the service of political outcomes.


Jared Keller, The New Republic, 9 Sep. 2019





And the why is that it’s, unfortunately, human nature that has presented itself in so many, many ways.


Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 13 July 2018





History doesn’t often remember the why, just the what.


Philip Elliott, Time, 26 Sep. 2017





But instead of getting bogged down by the calories consumed or the grams of fat encountered, Alpert turned the conversation to the why.


Logan Sykes, Town & Country, 2 Jan. 2017




Why, oh why, do the Rangers keep throwing away almost certain victories in the final minutes of playoff games?


Filip Bondy, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2017



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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘why.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Sentences starting with why

  • Why not include yourself? [9]
  • Why is it you’ll never give me a dance? [9]
  • Why is it you wish to get Mr. Allen over the border, then? [9]
  • Why did not you think of a railway-station, where the cars stop five minutes for refreshments? [6]
  • Why woman, do you suppose that man don’t know what he is about? [5]
  • Why of course you may have overheard some such jesting nonsense. [5]
  • Why is it you join the army? [9]
  • Why doubt what you cannot but know? [2]
  • Why should he yield to the Church in this? [11]
  • Why had he written to her? [4]

Sentences ending with why

  • And, fellow-citizens, do you know why? [10]
  • And I’ll tell you for why. [5]
  • He said he would get a glimpse of that document or know the reason why. [5]
  • I grow sick with wondering why. [13]
  • Do you know why? [9]
  • Don’t you see why? [6]
  • He didn’t say why. [9]
  • I asked him why. [7]
  • I’ll tell you why. [6]
  • We do know why. [5]

Short sentences using why

  • Well, why don’t you? [5]
  • And why will you? [5]
  • Well, why, don’t you jump? [5]
  • Why, why did you come? [11]
  • Oh, why did you change? [9]
  • Why shouldn’t he write? [4]
  • Why should the world babble? [11]
  • Why don’t you work? [9]
  • Why isn’t he with them? [11]
  • Why, certainly they will. [5]

Sentences containing why two or more times

  • I understand why you sent it, and you must try to understand why it cannot be kept. [4]
  • Tell us why you haven’t brought her into the daylight, why she isn’t claiming her husband at the polls. [11]
  • Then she said, without looking up:— «I do not know why I have tired you with this, why I have saddened myself. [9]
  • Perhaps that was why, though Shiel loved her, he had had a bitterness which galled his soul; why he had a determination to win sufficient wealth to make himself independent of her. [11]
  • I don’t see why this uncharitable feeling should follow me everywhere, and why I should have that crime thrown up to me on all occasions. [5]
  • She knew now why the great gate had been barred with beams, and why the troop had entered by the side-doors. [10]
  • And he says, why shouldn’t you do it here, or why shouldn’t you be the man who will guide it all in England? [11]
  • But you—oh, why, why is it I feel now, suddenly, that you have the strain of the coward in you! [11]
  • I don’t know why I drove that trotter to-day, nor why I went on that sulky, for I couldn’t hear good where I was, on the outskirts of the meeting; but I done it like as if the Lord had told me. [11]
  • He knew now why he had come to town; he also knew why he must not stay, or, if staying, what must be his course. [11]

More example sentences with the word why in them

  • Why, you see yourself it’s gone. [5]
  • And you say you’re not sick, and so I don’t see why we shouldn’t come to business. [8]
  • Why, he’ll read your wrinkles as easy as a book, and not only tell you fifty or sixty things that’s going to happen to you, but fifty or sixty thousand that ain’t. [5]
  • But why touch your words with satire? [11]
  • Grandmother, why is your skin so rough? [10]
  • You ask why your restless microscopic atoms may not come together and become self-conscious and self-moving organisms. [6]
  • Why, nobody but your own family, of course. [6]
  • Why, she’s like your own daughter. [9]
  • But—but why grieve your mother when it—when it may not happen? [5]
  • I bow to your masculine secrecy—but why did my worldly-wise brother mingle a petticoat in this delicate business if he wishes to keep it hidden? [10]
  • The idea of your going and intruding on a party of strangers, that way, and talking for half an hour; why I never heard of a man in his right mind doing such a thing before. [5]
  • Nothing has befallen your father’s younger son; and if I were a philosopher, like Philip, I should be moved to wonder why a man can only be wet when the rain falls on him, and yet can be so wretched when disaster falls on another. [10]
  • Why, Burlingame, as your family physician, I shouldn’t hesitate even to present my account against your estate if, in a tussle with the devil, he got you out of my hands. [11]
  • I should think you’d know why not! [9]
  • If I recommend you, why not, sir? [9]
  • Still, I ask you, do you think there is a reason why from her height she should stoop down to rescue you or give you any joy? [11]
  • But why do you worry about the various reports? [5]
  • Why, I thank you with all my heart. [5]
  • Under these circumstances you will readily see why I should not speak in detail of the course I shall deem it best to pursue. [7]
  • Bye and bye you will comprehend why it is that I wish to unbosom myself to a newspaper man when I have so studiously avoided conversation with other people. [5]
  • I can’t tell you why yet. [11]
  • I have shown you why I was not long since. [4]
  • I will tell you why I left you. [11]
  • I never told you why I came to this country—I didn’t want to sadden you with my troubles—but now I want you to understand me better. [4]
  • I will tell you why I came here to-night. [9]
  • Why, some of you were surprised when a friend of mine told you there were fifty-eight separate pieces in a fiddle. [6]
  • And why should you want to know me and see me outside of the office? [9]
  • Why, what could you want over here in the bend, then? [5]
  • But why don’t you want it known? [5]
  • Ah, why did you use me so, and send me no word? [5]
  • Why, I wrote you twice to ask you what you could mean by Sid being here. [5]
  • Then why do you try to get to Heaven? [5]
  • But why don’t you try to beg them? [5]
  • Why, what makes you think that? [5]
  • Why, mother, did you think it like the ballet? [8]
  • Genius has given you the freedom of the universe, why then come within any walls? [6]
  • Can any of you tell any reason why it should not have come into the Union at once? [7]
  • Why, what is you talkin’ ’bout? [5]
  • Well, why haven’t you taken one? [2]
  • Philip, why don’t you take the heroine of the Mavick ball? [4]
  • Why, what do you take me for? [5]
  • But why do you stand and look like that? [10]
  • But why don’t you speak to them? [9]
  • And why have you sought me? [11]
  • But why are you so anxious? [2]
  • I wonder why you should think so. [5]
  • But why did you say those sharp things at your trial? [11]
  • Now why do you say such things to me, especially when—when you are aspiring! [11]
  • If any of you really believe in a working Utopia, why not join the Shakers, and convert the world to this mode of life? [6]
  • But why did you not come to the stables this morning? [10]
  • And why could you not come in by the gate? [10]
  • But why are you not at the assembly, Richard? [9]
  • Why, man, have you no pride in Holy Church? [11]
  • Why, I thought you never left your office until seven o’clock. [9]
  • Why, you know you never did. [5]
  • I dare say you meant no harm, and perhaps you will not now be able to understand why I was so grieved at what you will probably deem such a trifle; but grieved I was, and indignant too. [14]
  • Why, yes, if you like the term. [5]
  • Why, Cap., don’t you know, it’s as much as a hundred times worse in there now than it was when he first got a-going. [5]
  • Why, they couldn’t—don’t you know that? [5]
  • Why, they’ll have you in the criminal court….» «Oh, nonsense, nonsense! [2]
  • Then why are you herewith us? [9]
  • Why, you ass, you have won a thousand times over what you lost. [9]
  • How is it you have loved a man for a whole year and suddenly… Why, you have only seen him three times! [2]
  • And why couldn’t you have answered my letter yesterday, if it were only a line? [9]
  • Mandeville, why don’t you get up a «centenary» of Socrates, and put up his statue in the Central Park? [4]
  • Why, I knew you for a born son of luck the minute I saw you. [5]
  • Why, what do you do with your evenings, Mr. [4]
  • Dad, why did you do this? [9]
  • Well, why shouldn’t you do it instead? [11]
  • But why do you do a thing like this when you must know I need every man here to help turn out these machines? [9]
  • Why, Speed, if you did not love her although you might not wish her death, you would most certainly be resigned to it. [7]
  • But why did you choose a detail of my question which could be answered only with vague hearsay evidence, and go right by one which could have been answered with deadly facts?—facts in everybody’s reach, facts which none can dispute. [5]
  • Why, dear me, you can’t tell which of them it is that’s holding that reception. [5]
  • I know why you came out here. [11]
  • Why, what can you be thinking about, Stormy? [5]
  • And why have you avoided me here in Washington? [9]
  • Now why are you asking silly questions about the Fire Brigade? [2]
  • But why do you ask these questions? [10]
  • But why do you ask that question? [9]
  • But why do you ask me? [2]
  • That is why you and David are wonderful. [9]
  • I could surprise you about him—and there isn’t any reason why I should keep the thing to myself. [11]
  • I have asked you a great many questions and you have not hesitated to answer, and you may know how I got into this miserable cage and why I stay in it. [10]
  • If the New York man says the same, why despair? [11]
  • Why, two hundred years before the King was born, an Enderby was promised an earldom. [11]
  • But this that ye have done shall be told to all who fight to-morrow, and men will know why it is I pardon treachery. [11]
  • Wherein were they wrong and you justified, and why was all exchange refused? [11]
  • Here it was written why those who asked should receive, and those who sought should find: «For what man is there of you whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? [10]
  • His mother had written him, asking why he stayed so long in an unimportant city, he who had been so active a traveler hitherto. [4]
  • Why did I write this article? [5]
  • Why didn’t you write me you had been admitted to the firm? [9]
  • Why shouldn’t you write it, and I arrange the material, and talk about it! [9]
  • Why should I write about such a scratch as that? [5]
  • Why had he wounded her so deeply the night before? [10]
  • I wish he wouldn’t persist in liking us so; I can’t think why he keeps it up. [5]
  • Why, Huck, it wouldn’t make no more talk than breaking into a soap factory. [5]
  • Why, a body wouldn’t know Sally Sellers in it. [5]
  • Why, cert’nly it would work, like rats a-fighting. [5]
  • Yet no, it would not go, but stayed there, tipping its gold-brown head at me as though it would invite me to guess why it came. [11]
  • Why, our headquarters would be in Constantinople and our hindquarters in Further India! [5]

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