however vs if anything

however

adv
  • How ever: an emphatic form of how, used to ask in what manner. 

  • In contrast. 

  • To whatever degree or extent. 

  • Nevertheless; yet, still; in spite of that. 

  • In any way that one likes or chooses; in a haphazard or spontaneous way. 

conj
  • In any way in which. 

  • Regardless of the way in which. 

  • But, yet, though, although. 

if anything

adv
  • Used in questions when the speaker does not know for sure if the listener will have an answer. 

  • Used to suggest or state tentatively that something may be the case (often the opposite of something previously implied). 

How often have the words however and if anything occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )