How to Use what-if in a Sentence

what-if

noun
  • With the draft, the what-if game is one that swings both ways.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 24 June 2024
  • The full what-if mailbag is available for you here.
    — Levi Weaver, New York Times, 3 June 2026
  • Otherwise, the what-if blues would’ve stung a lot longer.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Tax season always seems to start off with some kind of quirky, what-if component.
    — Susan Tompor, The Enquirer, 12 June 2024
  • Playing the what-if game with Nix won’t heal any pain for the Broncos.
    — Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Conforto came around to score, but the other what-if was bigger.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
  • For nine years, May 28 evoked a franchise-haunting what-if.
    — Joel Lorenzi, New York Times, 29 May 2026
  • Practice the what-if conversation early, when trust is high and stakes are low.
    — Stephan Lendi, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025
  • The Lakers are the ultimate what-if team in a conference full of what-ifs.
    — Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2023
  • Its cast is exactly the sprightly ensemble needed to land its what-if laughs.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026
  • The three Canadians won silver medals, but all three had what-if moments in the final game.
    — Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 22 Feb. 2026
  • The Giants have made countless trades that were dandies, but the bad ones present what-if scenarios that can be tough for fans to stomach.
    — John Shea, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Apr. 2023
  • And a big, ol’ what-if for Broncos Country given how close Denver was last year.
    — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 13 May 2026
  • Any postmortem of a tough season-ending loss is going to include some lingering what-if moments.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 3 Feb. 2025
  • Counterfactual history isn’t just a game of what-if.
    — Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Acuña to the Royals is the type of what-if move that would've had quite the snowball effect on MLB.
    — Andrew Wright, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2025
  • Again, no disrespect to DeVries, but that what-if might be one Indiana fans chew on for over a decade.
    — Brendan Marks, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Advertisement Early in the book, Poppy talks about the what-if factor.
    — Shannon Carlin, Time, 9 Jan. 2026
  • The Minnesota Wild players are not playing hockey right now and still have a what-if nagging at them about injuries.
    — Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
  • However, the best ideas come out of thorough analysis and debating what-if scenarios.
    — Kate Wieczorek, Forbes.com, 27 Feb. 2026
  • This may come in the form of a digital twin of the warehouse that performs what-if analyses of material flows and other systems and processes.
    — Manoj Gujarathi, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
  • As a fascinating footnote of history, this obscure what-if offers an important lesson to the present.
    — Big Think, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The supply chain disruption analysis utilizes what-if scenario modeling as a planning tool.
    — Dileep Rai, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
  • This year, the what-if involves the possible expansion of the child tax credit, which likely would be retroactive to 2023.
    — Susan Tompor, The Enquirer, 12 June 2024
  • After the Wildcats won in OT, Santa Clara was left wondering what-if.
    — Tim Rohan, NBC news, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Cochrane, 52, and Porter, 43, turned the breezy online exchange into a what-if conversation.
    — John Branch, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Bigelow’s work is procedural to its core, and that this film is a speculative what-if is made all the more horrifying because of its banality.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2025
  • This means strategic planning can shift from producing static roadmaps to generating simulations and what-if models.
    — Catherine Iger, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
  • This means strategic planning can shift from producing static roadmaps to generating simulations and what-if models.
    — Catherine Iger, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Jess Gabor plays Christy’s teenage girlfriend, a thwarted first love who lingers as a great what-if in Christy’s life before resurfacing at a crucial time.
    — Joe Reid, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'what-if.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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