Wherewithal is a noun and is defined in most dictionaries as the funds or means required to accomplish a task or purpose. Some dictionaries list a plural as wherewithal. However, it is a mass noun that is already plural, but singular in construction and should not be pluralized.
However, the dictionaries leave out the way wherewithal is used most often, which is to describe someone or something’s intelligence, ability, or togetherness. In other words, the personality trait that gets things done.
It is also used as a synonym for wherewith, which had other meanings but currently the only definition used is as a synonym for ‘with’.
Examples
He’s still only 27, and while the Braves probably don’t have the wherewithal or inclination to pony up a $100-million deal before his free agency comes after the year, someone else might do it for the two-time All-Star who just turned 27. [CBS Sports]
But they’ve noted that Hernandez was never hospitalized for psychological problems before his arrest and that he’d shown the mental wherewithal to hold jobs, apply for government benefits and discuss religion. [WRAL]
That’s three strikes. And they should be out. Yet, as a testament of this group’s inexhaustible source of wherewithal, the day after the SC junked the Kontra Daya petition, they filed another case before the Ombudsman against Comelec and Smartmatic officers for allegedly “placing in grave peril the sanctity of the ballot” during the May 2010 and 2013 elections. [Phil Star]