anyways
adverb
Simple meaning
Used to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehneewayzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɛniweɪz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
conjunctiveinformalchiefly CanadaUSPhilippines
Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
Used to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement; anyhow, they're quiet"; anyway, it's gone"; in any case, there was a brief scuffle"
rare
In any way or respect, at all.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (conjunctive, informal, chiefly Canada, US, Philippines) Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
Used this way, anyways is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Used to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.