Some
Origin
From Middle English some, sum, from Old English sum ("some, a certain one"), from Proto-Germanic *sumaz ("some, a certain one"), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- ("one, whole"). Cognate Scots sum, some ("some"), North Frisian som, sam, säm ("some"), West Frisian sommige, somlike ("some"), Low German sum ("some"), Dutch sommige ("some"), German dialectal summige ("some"), Danish somme ("some"), Swedish somlig ("some"), Norwegian sum, som ("some"), Icelandic sumur ("some"), Gothic ðƒðŒ¿ðŒ¼ðƒ (sums, "one, someone"). More at same.
Full definition of some
Pronoun
some
- A certain number, at least one.
- 2013-07-19, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.
- Some enjoy spicy food, others prefer it milder.
- An indefinite quantity.Can I have some of them?
- An indefinite amount, a part.please give me some of the cake; everyone is wrong some of the time
Synonyms
- (an indefinite quantity) a few
Determiner
- A certain proportion of, at least one.Some people like camping.
- 2013-07-20, The attack of the MOOCs, Since the launch early last year of … two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
- An unspecified quantity or number of.Would you like some grapes?
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track....Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 22, In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
- 2013, Sarah Glaz, Ode to Prime Numbers, Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.
- An unspecified amount of (something uncountable).Would you like some water?
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 10, It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
- A certain, an unspecified or unknown.I've just met some guy who said he knew you. The sequence S converges to zero for some initial value v.
- 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 4, By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
- 2013-06-14, Jonathan Freedland, Obama's once hip brand is now tainted, Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.
- A considerable quantity or number of.He had edited the paper for some years.
- 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. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
- (a remarkable)(informal) A remarkable.He is some acrobat!
Synonyms
Derived terms
Adverb
some
- Of a measurement; approximately, roughlyI guess he must have weighed some 90 kilos.Some 30,000 spectators witnessed the feat.Some 4,000 acres of land were flooded.