someone
Americanpronoun
pronoun
Etymology
Origin of someone
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at some, one
Compare meaning
How does someone compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
The word someone refers a person or an individual, but not necessarily a specific one. If you're not hungry enough for dessert after lunch, you can ask the friends at your table, "Does someone want my ice cream sandwich?" It's a funny contradiction, but the noun someone can be used to mean "any unspecified person," but also "a very important person." So a child might say, "When I grow up, I want to be someone," meaning that they want to be well-known or famous, or just really good at something. Someone and somebody are synonyms, so you can use them interchangeably, although someone is slightly more formal.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Someone places an order for 100 shares, hoping to get 50 allocated.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Someone young, idealistic, like the kids they’d never had, would die as part of a well-intentioned but risky move from Hal.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2026
Someone else was already there, and between them they got the door open and took a young boy, unconscious, out of the car.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
Someone could claim to be an “affiliated individual” and use it to contest IRS audits or collections.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
Someone has removed the Cohan song and started playing dance music instead.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
