however

Etymology

From Middle English however, how-ever, how-evere; equivalent to how + ever. Compare howsoever.

adv

1. (conjunctive) Nevertheless; yet, still; in spite of that.
   He told me not to do it. However, I did it anyway. / I did it anyway, however. / I, however, did it anyway.
   She wanted to go; however, she decided against it.
   I didn't argue with him; I still think, however, that he is wrong.
   Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism. 2013-06-29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3
2. (conjunctive) In contrast.
   The conference itself went very well. The party afterwards, however, was a disaster.
3. (degree) To whatever degree or extent.
   However clear you think you've been, many questions will remain.
   Elinor, however little concerned in it, joined in their discourse; and Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library, however it might be avoided by the family in general, soon procured herself a book. 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 42
4. (informal, manner) In any way that one likes or chooses; in a haphazard or spontaneous way.
   I don't care; just do it however.
   Nothing was really planned; things just happened however.
5. (interrogative) How ever: an emphatic form of how, used to ask in what manner.
   I thought it was impossible. However were you able to do it?
6. (obsolete) In any case, at any rate, at all events.
   Our chief end and highest interest is happiness : And this is happiness to be freed from all (if it may) [or] however from the greatest evils. c. 1680, John Tillotson

conj

1. Regardless of the way in which.
   Let me know when you've had your interview, however it goes.
   However we do this, it isn't going to work.
   But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained. 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48
2. In any way in which.
   She offered to help however she could.
   Wear your hair however you want.
3. (proscribed) But, yet, though, although.
   She wanted to go, however she decided against it. (proscribed)