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• some
  some

  adjective

  being an undetermined or unspecified one.
• -some
  -some

  a native English suffix formerly used in the formation of adjectives.

some

¹ American  

[suhm, suhm] / sʌm, səm /

adjective

1. being an undetermined or unspecified one.

   Some person may object.

2. (used with plural nouns) certain.

   Some days I stay home.

3. of a certain unspecified number, amount, degree, etc..

   to some extent.

4. unspecified but considerable in number, amount, degree, etc..

   We talked for some time. He was here some weeks.

5. Informal. of impressive or remarkable quality, consequence, extent, etc..

   That was some storm.

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pronoun

1. certain persons, individuals, instances, etc., not specified.

   Some think he is dead.

2. an unspecified number, amount, etc., as distinguished from the rest or in addition.

   He paid a thousand dollars and then some.

adverb

1. (used with numerals and with words expressing degree, extent, etc.) approximately; about.

   Some 300 were present.

2. Informal. to some degree or extent; somewhat.

   I like baseball some. She is feeling some better today.

3. Informal. to a great degree or extent; considerably.

   That's going some.

-some ² American  

1. a native English suffix formerly used in the formation of adjectives.

   quarrelsome; burdensome.

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-some ³ American  

1. a collective suffix used with numerals.

   twosome; threesome.

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-some ⁴ American  

1. a combining form meaning “body,” used in the formation of compound words.

   chromosome.

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some ¹ British  

/ səm, sʌm /

determiner

1. 1. (a) certain unknown or unspecified

      some lunatic drove into my car

      some people never learn

   2. ( as pronoun; functioning as sing or plural )

      some can teach and others can't

2. 1. an unknown or unspecified quantity or amount of

      there's some rice on the table

      he owns some horses

   2. ( as pronoun; functioning as sing or plural )

      we'll buy some

3. 1. a considerable number or amount of

      he lived some years afterwards

   2. a little

      show him some respect

4. informal (usually stressed) an impressive or remarkable

   that was some game!

5. a certain amount (more) (in the phrases some more and (informal) and then some )

6. about; approximately

   he owes me some thirty pounds

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adverb

1. not_standard to a certain degree or extent

   I guess I like him some

-some ² British  

suffix

1. characterized by; tending to

   awesome

   tiresome

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-some ³ British  

suffix

1. indicating a group of a specified number of members

   threesome

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-some ⁴ British  

/ -səʊm /

combining form

1. a body

   chromosome

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some Idioms  

1. see and then some; catch some rays; catch some z's; dig up (some dirt); in a (some) sense; in some measure; one of these days (some day); take some doing; to some degree; win some, lose some.

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Commonly Confused

As pronouns, both some and any may be used in affirmative or negative questions: Will you ( won't you ) have some? Do you ( don't you ) have any? But some is used in affirmative statements and answers: You may have some. Yes, I'd like some. And in negative statements and answers, any is the usual choice: I don't care for any. No, I can't take any.

Etymology

Origin of some¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English (adjective and pronoun); Old English sum originally, “someone”; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle High German sum, Old Norse sumr, Gothic sums

Origin of -some²

Middle English; Old English -sum; akin to Gothic -sama, German -sam; see same

Origin of -some³

Middle English -sum, Old English sum; special use of some (pronoun)

Origin of -some⁴

< Greek sôma body; see soma ¹

Explanation

The word some keeps it vague. When you have some time to kill, you've got an unspecified amount of time — it could be five minutes or five hours. The word some sounds like sum which means "a total quantity or amount." However, some, unlike sum, refers to an unspecified amount. If you have some money in your pocket, who knows the sum of that amount? Some can also refer to an unknown person or thing. If a person you don't know shows up, you might refer to him as "some guy."

Example Sentences

The canteen caters to the funeral home's customers, but as word began to spread about its noodles, hordes of diners -some posing as mourners - began showing up to try the food.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2025

Their syndrome was shown to be mosaic -some cells had one copy of chromosome X and some had two.

From Science Daily • Jan. 11, 2024

While economic growth is usually chalked up to increased productivity- people working harder and more efficiently -some economists argue that that’s only part of the story.

From Washington Times • Jun. 27, 2015

Also -some people interpret normal aging symptoms as “pathologic” and assume they must have a disease.

From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2010

This may rank as a merit even- -some people perhaps would say especially—when you don't understand what he says.

From Italian Hours by James, Henry

Related Words

• a few
• any