what with

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what with

1. (idiomatic, informal) Owing to; because of; as a result of.

   She was sleeping very badly these days, what with the new baby and all the activity surrounding him.

   What with it being too late and raining, we decided to stay home.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 39:

     Her half-brother had now ample means again, but what with debts and what with new madness wasted them most fearfully again.

   • 2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     It was hard to take him seriously, though, what with his multi-colored eye makeup.

• what with is always preceded by a comma if not used at the beginning of a sentence.