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.
Whenever someone asks whether they should hire a financial adviser, I often see responses like, “Don’t do it. You’re just giving away your money.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
However, when the researchers tracked the same participants from 2021 through 2024, they found that increasing personal climate action did not make someone more or less politically active the following year.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
Or when a parent says, “Stop managing my life,” an adult child can reply, “If your wishes aren’t written down, someone else makes those decisions. That’s the opposite of independence.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Customs and Border Protection said “Global Entry or other CBP Trusted Traveler Program memberships are not revoked because someone exercises their First Amendment rights.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
“There’s someone at the front asking for you.”
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
