somebody
Americanpronoun
noun
-
somebodies
plural
pronoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of somebody
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at some, body
Compare meaning
How does somebody compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
When you're talking about a person, but not a specific one, use the word somebody. If you cook more than you can eat yourself, you might ask, "Does somebody want this extra macaroni and cheese?" Interestingly, synonyms for somebody include "whoever" and "superstar." In other words, you can use this pronoun to mean any random individual, like when you suggest that somebody is likely to get hurt at a busy intersection near your house. But you can also use it for a very important, well-known, successful, or famous person: "I don't want to get stuck in this small town — I want to be somebody!"
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.
See Examples For:
Never before had somebody hit three home runs in his first MLB game—until Joshua Báez.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Find somebody you trust to do this, and then whatever you pay them will be worth it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
If the other parties "choose not to stand, somebody has to stand up and be the opposition. And so it's my humble duty to actually be His Majesty's official opposition," he added.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
"I don't think it's fair for somebody to be on a contract where they literally don't know whether or not they're going to be working at all, and yet they're bound by that contract."
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
“If somebody comes for me, will you tell them I’ll be out by the basketball hoop?”
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
"If the produce that I've been growing is contaminated in some way, hows it going to affect somebodies health. How is it going to affect my health?," she said.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
You can think, within two seconds, of stories of nobodies who became somebodies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Morocco, to its further credit beyond all the credit it has earned here, coped with that by playing like somebodies who found themselves belonging here.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2022
“So, we’re looking for somebody to replace him or somebodies as a group.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2020
Many of us, just somebodies but nobodies in especial particular, do not have a separate head at all but go in a group into the feature "Obituary Notes."
From Walking-Stick Papers by Robert Cortes Holliday
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.
