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.
Kaye: I think of him as a lodestar for someone who wants to continually move music forward into the future because that’s what music is about.
From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2026
Until your prompt comes in, the chatbot is just a big fancy recipe, vacantly waiting for someone to do something with it.
From Slate • May 25, 2026
“The ‘worst’ one is someone was wearing a one piece swimsuit.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
“We’re basically being enslaved by them,” Mr. Rinderknecht said when asked by federal investigators why someone might commit arson in the Palisades.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
I stared at her wide, blinking eyes; the girl was in mortal fear of something or someone.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
