Somewhat

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈsÊŒmwÉ’t/
• US IPA: /ˈsÊŒmwÊŒt/
• Hyphenation: some + what

Alternative forms

• British, dialectical summat and variants listed there

Origin

some + what

Full definition of somewhat

Adverb

1. To a limited extent or degree.
   The crowd was somewhat larger than expected, perhaps due to the good weather.
   The decision to shave or not is a somewhat personal one.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 2, I had occasion … to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return … I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, …, and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.

Pronoun

1. (now archaic) Something.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:Proceeding to the midst he stil did stand,
  As if in minde he somewhat had to say ….
• Robert TrailBut this text and theme I am upon, relates to somewhat far higher and greater, than all the beholdings of his glory that ever any saint on earth received.

Noun

1. More or less; a certain quantity or degree; a part, more or less; something.
• GrewThese salts have somewhat of a nitrous taste.
• DrydenSomewhat of his good sense will suffer, in this transfusion, and much of the beauty of his thoughts will be lost.
2. A person or thing of importance; a somebody.
• TennysonHere come those that worship me.
  They think that I am somewhat.