Meanings
alternative anyway
- not comparablerareIn any way or respect, at all.
it behoves them[…]to remove all objects, causes, companies, occasions, as may anyways molest him […].
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection ii1 more example
...we are bound to assert that we never heard either in his public discourses or private conversation, anything that might tend towards encouraging sedition, or anyways insolencing the government
1851, Church Wardens of Burlington, “The Church Wardens &c. of Burlington to the Honourable Society. Burlington, 28th, 1715”, in Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society, volume 1, →OCLC, page 76 - CanadaPhilippinesUSconjunctiveinformalnot comparableAnyway, anyhow, in any case.
"Anyways," said the damsel, "I am glad punishment followed, and I say so."
1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “book 2, chapter 12”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbused to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From any + adverbial genitive of way (compare always).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
anyways. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anyways
“anyways.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anyways. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anyways,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anyways.
Source: anyways on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.