Definition of "whom" in English

pronoun

1. (interrogative) What person or people; which person or people.

2. (relative) Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people.

   • That is the woman whom I spoke to earlier. (defining)
   • Mr Smith, whom we all know well, will be giving the speech. (non-defining)
   • He's a person with whom I work (defining)
   • We have ten employees, half of whom are carpenters. (non-defining)
   • There is a new girl in the class whom I consider to be a wunderkind.
   • She felt miserable unless she had neighbors with whom to quarrel regularly.

3. (fused relative, archaic outside set patterns) The person(s) whom; whomever.

   • To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne.

4. (informal, especially non-US) Also used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.

   • Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!