something

[ suhm-thing ]

pronoun

1. some thing; a certain undetermined or unspecified thing:

   Something is wrong there.

   Something's happening.

2. an additional amount, as of cents or minutes, that is unknown, unspecified, or forgotten:

   He charged me ten something for the hat.

   Our train gets in at two something.

noun

1. Informal. a person or thing of some value or consequence:

   He is really something!

   This writer has something to say and she says it well.

adverb

1. in some degree; to some extent; somewhat.
2. Informal. to a high or extreme degree; quite:

   He took on something fierce about my tardiness.

something

¹

/ ˈsʌmθɪŋ /

pronoun

1. an unspecified or unknown thing; some thing

   take something warm with you

   he knows something you don't

2. an unspecified or unknown amount; bit

   something less than a hundred

3. an impressive or important person, thing, or event

   isn't that something?

4. something else
   a remarkable person or thing
5. something or other
   one unspecified thing or an alternative thing

adverb

1. to some degree; a little; somewhat

   to look something like me

2. informal.
   foll by an adjective (intensifier)

   it hurts something awful

-something

²

combining form

1. 1. a person whose age can be approximately expressed by a specified decade
   2. ( as modifier )

      the thirtysomething market

Word History and Origins

Origin of something¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English sum thing; some, thing ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of something¹

C20: from the US television series thirtysomething

Idioms and Phrases

• buy something
• get (have) something on someone
• get something straight
• have something against
• hold something against
• hold (something) over
• look like something the cat dragged in
• make something of
• not put something past one
• on the ball, have something
• (something) or other
• pull something on
• start something
• take something
• you know something

Example Sentences

Something like fluoride, which is too small for normal filters, yanks away that feeling of agency.

From The Daily Beast

Citizens, perhaps, need to feel like they can communicate something to science.

From The Daily Beast

Why would “they” want to crush him just for attempting to buy something twenty years ago?

From The Daily Beast

But I think Steve Austin has to team up with a Japanese holdout to stop a nuclear bomb from going off or something.

From The Daily Beast

It was something ineffable and harder to define: freedom of speech.

From The Daily Beast

He remembered something—the cherished pose of being a man plunged fathoms-deep in business.

From Project Gutenberg

There seems something in that also which I could spare only very reluctantly from a new Bible in the world.

From Project Gutenberg

There is, perhaps, in this childish suffering often something more than the sense of being homeless and outcast.

From Project Gutenberg

The beauty, the mystery,—this fierce sunshine or something—stir——' She hesitated for a fraction of a second.

From Project Gutenberg

And furthermore, I imagine something else about this—quite unlike the old Bible—I imagine all of it periodically revised.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• object
• thing