sometime

[suhm-tahym]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sometime ON THESAURUS.COM

adverb

at some indefinite or indeterminate point of time: He will arrive sometime next week.

at an indefinite future time: Come to see me sometime.

Archaic. sometimes; on some occasions.

Archaic. at one time; formerly.

adjective

having been formerly; former: The diplomat was a sometime professor of history at Oxford.

being so only at times or to some extent: Traveling so much, he could never be more than a sometime husband.

that cannot be depended upon regarding affections or loyalties: He was well rid of his sometime girlfriend.

Origin of sometime

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at some, time

Can be confusedsometime sometimes (see usage note at the current entry)

Usage note

The adverb sometime is written as one word: He promised to paint the garage sometime soon. The two-word form some time means “an unspecified interval or period of time”: It will take some time for the wounds to heal.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sometime

late, someday, periodically, once, erstwhile, former, formerly, occasional, previous, intermittently, quondam

Examples from the Web for sometime

Contemporary Examples of sometime

On Christmas Day, sometime after dark, a hideous fire overtook the venue: 100 firefighters, 33 fire trucks, a four-alarm blaze.
The Fiery Death of Sotto Sotto, Toronto’s Celebrity Hotspot
Shinan Govani
December 30, 2014
According to police sources, was believed to have visited New York City sometime last week.
Alleged Cop Killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley Had a Death Wish
M.L. Nestel
December 22, 2014
Say sometime in 2017, President Clinton misses getting some progressive bill passed in the Senate by two votes.
The Dems’ Midterm Performance Anxiety
Michael Tomasky
October 31, 2014
Hendo looks on track to meet their Kickstarter goal of $250,000 sometime Wednesday afternoon, just one day after their launch.
The Hoverboard is (Finally Almost) Real
Alex Chancey, The Daily Beast Video
October 22, 2014
I went to rehab in 2009, so that video is from sometime in April 2009.
Tom Sizemore’s Revenge: On Tom Cruise’s Scientology Recruitment, Drugs, and Craving a Comeback
Marlow Stern
September 26, 2014

Historical Examples of sometime

True, Sidney would not marry him for years, but she had practically promised to sometime.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
But perhaps, sometime, we may figure out a way of getting them up.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science September 1930
Various
Sometime after, the Czar asked if there was no beer to be had.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete
Duc de Saint-Simon
Sometime late at night we retired to rest—or to try to rest.
Adventures and Recollections
Bill o'th' Hoylus End
And the sometime greater to the sometime less, and the greater that is to be to the less that is to be?
The Republic
Plato

British Dictionary definitions for sometime

sometime

adverb

at some unspecified point of time

adjective

(prenominal) having been at one time; formerthe sometime President

(prenominal) US occasional; infrequent

usage

The form sometime should not be used to refer to a fairly long period of time: he has been away for some time (not for sometime)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sometime

adv.

late 13c., "at one time or another" (adv.); as an adjective, late 15c. Meaning "at some future time" is late 14c. From some + time (n.).