Contextualizebeta

something

pron
/ˈsʌm.θɪŋ//ˈsɐm̥(p)θɪŋ/UK/ˈsʌm̥(p)θɪŋ/US

Etymology

From Middle English somþyng, some-thing, som thing, sum thinge, sum þinge, from Old English sum þing (literally “some thing”), equivalent to some + thing. Compare Old English āwiht (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”), Swedish någonting (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”).

  1. derived from sum
  2. inherited from somþyng

Definitions

  1. An uncertain or unspecified thing

    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. A quality to a moderate degree.

    • The performance was something of a disappointment.
    • That child is something of a genius.

  3. A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.

    • She has a certain something.
  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way.

      • He's really something! I've never heard such a great voice.
      • She's quite something. I can't believe she would do such a mean thing.
      • Some marmosets are less than six inches tall. —Well, isn't that something?

    2. Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.

      • "Very poetic." They came to a halt before the outer door. "It's very something," Rusty said wistfully. "How do you do it?"
      • "It's very — it's very something," said Lucy. "It's a kind of love-letter, isn't it?"
      • If it isn't large, I certainly can't say it's small. But it's very something.

    3. Somewhat

      Somewhat; to a degree.

      • The baby looks something like his father.
      • Angelo. Yet giue leaue (my Lord,) That we may bring you something on the way

    4. Used to adverbialise a following adjective

      • I miss them something terrible/rotten. (I miss them terribly)
      • You can't thrash when you have rheumatic fever – though you want to something awful, Mrs. White says.
      • 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.

    5. Designates an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g.…

      Designates an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.

    6. An object whose nature is yet to be defined.

      • Yea, ’t is true; I ’d know thee by thine eyen, that are gray, and thoughtful, and dark with a something that lies behind the colour of them,—and shining by the light of a lamp lit somewhere within.

    7. An object whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g., from…

      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).

      • What was the something the pilot saw, the something worth killing for?

The neighborhood

Derived

a little of something goes a long way, be onto something, give someone something to think about, leave something to be desired, look like something the cat brought in, look like something the cat dragged in, look like something the cat's dragged in, make something of, or something, something green in one's eye, slip into something more comfortable, some something or other, something and nothing, somethingburger, something dreadful, something else, something for the weekend, something is better than nothing, Somethingism, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, something is up, something like, something like that, something nasty in the woodshed, somethingness, something or other, something something, something tells one, somethingth, something to write home about, tell me something I don't know, that is something, that's saying something, that's something, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark, there is something to be said for, there must be something in the water, up to something, you can't get something for nothing, you don't get something for nothing · +2 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for something. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA