once upon a time
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“What kept them once upon a time, and still does, was/is sheer breadth, i.e. ‘always having something to watch.’
From MarketWatch • May 28, 2026
It was akin to all those hours I spent online once upon a time, dissecting clues down to their bones.
From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026
The author drops us into an Eden of wonder, where once upon a time we first cracked the codes of Dr. Seuss and “Goodnight Moon.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026
A movie about a famous and, frankly, selfish actor taking stock late in life feels like the kind of exercise in self-reflective narcissism that, once upon a time in Hollywood, Oscar voters adored.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 16, 2025
He imagined his father, once upon a time, as a little boy, sitting in the dark, watching this very same movie, staring into the face of the man in the moon.
From "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick
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.
