something

See also -something

English

Wikipedia has articles on:

Wikipedia

Etymology

some +‎ thing

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈsʌmθɪŋ/, [ˈsɐmθɪŋ], X-SAMPA: /"sVmTIN/, ["s6mTIN]
  • (US) IPA: /ˈsʌmθɪŋ/, X-SAMPA: /"sVm.TIN/, sometimes reduced to [ˈsʌʔm̩]
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • (Australia) IPA: /ˈsamθɪŋ/, [ˈsämθɪŋ], X-SAMPA: /"samTIN/, ["sa_"mTIN]
  • Hyphenation: some‧thing

Pronoun

something

  1. An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.
    I must have forgotten to pack something, but I can't think what.
    I have something for you in my bag.
    I have a feeling something good is going to happen today.
  2. (colloquial, of someone or something) A quality to a moderate degree.
    The performance was something of a disappointment.
    That child is something of a genius.
  3. (colloquial, of a person) A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.
    She has a certain something.
  4. (colloquial, often with really) Somebody or something who is superlative in some way.
    He's really something! I've never heard such a great voice.
    She's really something. I can't believe she would do such a mean thing.
Teacup clipart.svg The Tea room(+) is discussing this entry at the moment.
Please come along and share your opinions on this and the other topics being discussed there.

Synonyms

  • (unspecified thing): sth (especially in dictionaries)

Derived terms

Translations

unspecified object
event that breaks up a period of calm
somebody with a quality to a moderate degree
talent that is hard to pin down
somebody who is superlative in some way
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Related terms

terms related to something

Adjective

something (not comparable)

  1. Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.

Adverb

something (not comparable)

  1. (degree) somewhat; to a degree
    the baby looks something like his father.
  2. (degree, colloquial) To a high degree.
    • 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, page 51:
      You can't thrash when you have rheumatic fever – though you want to something awful, Mrs. White says.
    • 1994 Summer, Rebecca T. Goodwin, “Keeper of the house”, Paris Review, volume 36, number 131, page 161: 
      Seeing him here, though, I all of a sudden feel more like I been gone from home three years, instead of three weeks, and I miss my people something fierce.
    • 2001 January, Susan Schorn, “Bobby Lee Carter and the hand of God”, U.S. Catholic, volume 66, number 1, page 34: 
      And then she put the coffin right out on her front porch. Jim told everyone he'd built it kind of roomy since Bobby Lee was on the stout side, but that it better get used quick because sycamore tends to warp something terrible.

Derived terms

to a high degree

Statistics

Verb

something (third-person singular simple present somethings, present participle somethinging, simple past and past participle somethinged)

  1. Applied to an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.
    • 1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes [1]
      He didn’t apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it was somethinged—vetoed, I believe she said.
    • 2003, George Angel, “Allegoady,” in Juncture, Lara Stapleton and Veronica Gonzalez edd. [2]
      She hovers over the something somethinging and awkwardly lowers her bulk.
    • 2005, Floyd Skloot, A World of Light [3]
      “Oh how we somethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. Dear, was I ever on the stage?”

Noun

something (plural somethings)

  1. An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
  2. An object whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g., from words of a song. Also used to refer to an object earlier indefinitely referred to as 'something' (pronoun sense).
    • 1999, Nicholas Clapp, The Road to Ubar [4]
      What was the something the pilot saw, the something worth killing for?
    • 2004, Theron Q Dumont, The Master Mind [5]
      Moreover, in all of our experience with these sense impressions, we never lose sight of the fact that they are but incidental facts of our mental existence, and that there is a Something Within which is really the Subject of these sense reports—a Something to which these reports are presented, and which receives them.
    • 2004, Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives [6]
      She wiped something with a cloth, wiped at the wall shelf, and put the something on it, clinking glass.
↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 22 May 2013, at 00:07