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something

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something

  • /ˈsʌm.θɪŋ/
  • [ˈsɐm(p)θɪŋ] Australia, UK
  • [ˈsʌm(p)θɪŋ] US
  • [ˈsʌn̪θɪŋ] US
  • [ˈsɐm(p)θəŋ] New Zealand
  • /ˈsʊm.t̪ɪŋ/ Ireland
  • /ˈsʊm.tɪn/
  • /ˈsʊm.tɪŋ/

Rhymes with -ɪŋ

Where it comes from

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”).

pronoun somthing · sumthing · somethang · sumfin · sumfin' · sumn

  1. indefinite, pronoun An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing. I must have forgotten to pack something, but I can't think what.
  2. colloquial, indefinite, pronoun A quality to a moderate degree. The performance was something of a disappointment.
  3. colloquial, indefinite, pronoun A talent or quality that is difficult to specify. She has a certain something.
  4. colloquial, indefinite, often, pronoun Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way. He's really something! I've never heard such a great voice.

adjective somthing · sumthing · somethang · sumfin · sumfin' · sumn

  1. not comparable Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify. She was so something that she cried all the way home.

adverb somthing · sumthing · somethang · sumfin · sumfin' · sumn

  1. not comparable Somewhat; to a degree. The baby looks something like his father.
  2. colloquial, especially, not comparable Used to adverbialise a following adjective I miss them something terrible/rotten. (I miss them terribly)

verb somethings · somethinging · somethinged · somthing · sumthing

  1. colloquial Designates 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 http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0140439234&id=IOZeJi7U4eEC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&sig=LW2P-uKmoZabe70ZKnIHIMQLXlw 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

noun somethings · somthing · sumthing · somethang · sumfin · sumfin'

  1. 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.
  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). What was the something the pilot saw, the something worth killing for?

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