Definitions from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Wikipedia

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Homophones 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.4 See also 1.5 Noun

[ English

Rank of this word in the English language, from analyzing texts from Project Gutenberg.
she	they	my	#35: were	are	their	one

[ Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (UK) IPA: /wɜː(ɹ)/, SAMPA: /w3:(r\)/
  • (US) enPR: wûr, IPA: /wɝ/, SAMPA: /w3`/
• (unstressed)
  • (UK) IPA: /wə(ɹ)/, SAMPA: /w@(r\)/
  • (US) enPR: wər, IPA: /wɚ/, SAMPA: /w@`/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

Rhymes: -ɜː(r)

[ Homophones

• whirr (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

[ Verb

were

1. Second-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.

   John, you were thee only person to see him.

2. First-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   We were about to leave.

3. Second-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   Mary and John, you were right.

4. Third-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   They were a fine group.

5. Simple past tense subjunctive in all persons of be.

   I wish it were Sunday.

   I wish I were with you.

   • with "if" omitted, put first in an "if" clause:

   Were it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all. (= If it were simply...)

   Were father a king, we would have war. (= If father were a king,...)

[ Synonyms

• (second-person singular past indicative, archaic) wast (used with "thou")
• (second-person singular past subjunctive, archaic) wert (used with "thou")

See also

am are is art be being

been beest was wast wert

[ Noun

Wikipedia

were

1. archaic for man (human male), see werewolf, weregild, world.