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.
She added: "Victims deserve someone at their best."
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
A primer for romance in the digital age: People talk a lot about how dating apps have made it harder to meet someone.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
Majoring in English at Boston College “was not necessarily the path typical for someone getting into financial services,” he noted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
When he saw someone toss the short-sleeved Lakers jacket with “Chamberlain” on the back into a bin of clothes outside Goodwill, Brown grabbed it for his online shop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
When it was over, I felt like someone had disassembled me and put my pieces back together in the wrong order.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
