• Something

    Pronunciation

    Origin

    some + thing

    Full definition of something

    Pronoun

    something

    1. 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.
      • 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, Our banks are out of control, Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
    2. (colloquial, of someone or something) A quality to a moderate degree.
      The performance was something of a disappointment.
      That child is something of a genius.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway, and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
    3. (colloquial, of a person) A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.
      She has a certain something.
    4. (colloquial, often with really) Somebody or something who is superlative in some way.
      He's really something! I've never heard such a great voice.
      She's really something. I can't believe she would do such a mean thing.

    Synonyms

    • (unspecified thing) sth especially in dictionaries

    Derived terms

    Related terms

    terms related to something

    Adjective

    something

    1. Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.

    Adverb

    something

    1. (degree) Somewhat; to a degree.
      The baby looks something like his father.
      • 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 5, The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.
    2. (degree, colloquial) To a high degree.
      • 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, You can't thrash when you have rheumatic fever – though you want to something awful, Mrs. White says.
      • 1994, Summer, Rebecca T. Goodwin, Keeper of the house, 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.
      • 2001, January, Susan Schorn, Bobby Lee Carter and the hand of God, And then she put the coffin right out on her front porch. Jim told everyone he'd built it kind of roomy since Bobby Lee was on the stout side, but that it better get used quick because sycamore tends to warp something terrible.

    Derived terms

    to a high degree

    Verb

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

    Noun

    something

    (plural somethings)
    1. An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
      • 2013-06-08, The new masters and commanders, From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much....  But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
    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).
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