• So

    Pronunciation

    • UK enPR: sō, IPA: /səʊ/
    • US IPA: /soÊŠ/
    • Rhymes: -əʊ
    • (some non-standard dialects)

    Origin

    From Middle English so, swo, from Old English swā ("so, as, the same, such, that"), from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē ("so"), from Proto-Indo-European *swē, *swō (reflexive pronomial stem). Cognate with Scots sae ("so"), West Frisian sa ("so"), Low German so ("so"), Dutch zo ("so"), German so ("so"), Danish så ("so"), Old Latin suad ("so"), Albanian sa ("how much, so, as"), Ancient Greek ὡς (hōs, "as").

    Full definition of so

    Conjunction

    1. In order that.
      Eat your broccoli so you can have dessert.
    2. With the result that; for that reason; therefore.
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ ….” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
    3. I was hungry so I asked if there were more food.   He ate too much cake, so he got sick.   He wanted a book, so he went to the library.   “I need to go to the bathroom.” ―“So go!”
    4. (archaic) Provided that; on condition that, as long as.
      • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.18:As we cal money not onely that which is true and good, but also the false; so it be currant.
      • John MiltonThough all the winds of doctrine were let loose play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength.

    Usage notes

    Chiefly in North American use, a comma or pause is often used before the conjunction when used in the sense with the result that. (A similar meaning can often be achieved by using a semicolon or colon (without the so), as for example: He drank the poison; he died.)

    Synonyms

    Adverb

    so

    1. To the (explicitly stated) extent that.
      It was so hot outside that all the plants died.
      He was so good, they hired him on the spot.
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ ….” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
      • 1963, Mike Hawker, Ivor Raymonde (music and lyrics), Dusty Springfield (vocalist), I Only Want to Be with You (single),Don′t know what it is that makes me love you so,
        I only know I never want to let you go.
    2. (informal) To the (implied) extent.
      I need a piece of cloth so long.
      this long
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 2, We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
      • 2013-07-20, Old soldiers?, Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
      1. (informal) Very (positive clause).
        He is so good!
        • 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, Captain Edward Carlisle...felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,...; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
      2. (informal) Very (negative clause).
        It’s not so bad. it's acceptable
      3. (slang, chiefly US) Very much.
        But I so want to see the Queen when she visits our town!
        That is so not true!
        • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors.
    3. In a particular manner.
      Place the napkin on the table just so.
    4. In the same manner or to the same extent as aforementioned; also.
      Just as you have the right to your free speech, so I have the right to mine.
      Many people say she's pretty, but I don't think so.
      "I can count backwards from one hundred." ―"So can I."
      • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood"Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn.""Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"
      • 2012, May 19, Paul Fletcher, Blackpool 1-2 West Ham, It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.

    Usage notes

    Use of so in the sense to the implied extent is discouraged in formal writing; spoken intonation which might render the usage clearer is not usually apparent to the reader, who might reasonably expect the extent to be made explicit. For example, the reader may expect He is so good to be followed by an explanation or consequence of how good he is. Devices such as use of underscoring and the exclamation mark may be used as a means of clarifying that the implicit usage is intended; capitalising SO is also used. The derivative subsenses very and very much are similarly more apparent with spoken exaggerated intonation.

    The difference between so and very in implied-extent usage is that very is more descriptive or matter-of-fact, while so indicates more emotional involvement. This so is used by both men and women, but more frequently by women. For example, she is very pretty is a simple statement of fact; ''she is

    so pretty suggests admiration. Likewise, that is very typical is a simple statement; that is SO typical of him! is an indictment. A formal (and reserved) apology may be expressed I am very sorry, but after elbowing someone in the nose during a basketball game, a man might say, Dude, I am

    so sorry!'' in order to ensure that it's understood as an accident.

    Mark Liberman, "Ask Language Log: So feminine?", 2012 March 26

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Adjective

    so

    1. True, accurate.That is so.You are responsible for this, is that not so?
    2. In that state or manner; with that attribute. (replaces the aforementioned adjective phrase)
      • 1823, Andrew Reed, MarthaIf this separation was painful to all parties, it was most so to Martha.
      • 1872, Charles Dickens, J., The Personal History of David CopperfieldBut if I had been more fit to be married, I might have made you more so too.
    3. (dated, UK, slang) Homosexual.Is he so?

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Interjection

    1. Used after a pause for thought to introduce a new topic, question or story.
      So, let's go home.
      So, what'll you have?
      So, there was this squirrel stuck in the chimney...
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 11, So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.
    2. Short for so what
      "You park your car in front of my house every morning." — "So?"
    3. Be as you are; stand still; used especially to cows; also used by sailors.

    Noun

    so

    (plural sos)
    1. (music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the fifth note of a major scale.

    {{abbreviation-old|en}}

    so
    1. someone

    Synonyms

    Anagrams

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