sometime
Americanadverb
-
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.
adverb
adjective
-
(prenominal) having been at one time; former
the sometime President
-
(prenominal) occasional; infrequent
Spelling
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.
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 )
Etymology
Origin of sometime
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at some, time
Explanation
The adverb sometime means "at a time that's not known or specified." So if you promise to take your friend out for pizza sometime, you're being vague about exactly when it's going to happen. When you tell your parents you got home sometime after ten, you're either not sure exactly what time it was or you're avoiding telling them you didn't get in until midnight. Informally, you can also use sometime to mean "occasional." So if you appear in your school's yearly musical, you can describe yourself as a sometime singer and dancer.
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.
The Social Security trust fund is projected to face depletion sometime between roughly 2033 and 2035, depending on a variety of assumptions.
From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026
"It was initially thought that Seamus disappeared sometime around 1973-1974," he explained.
From BBC • May 26, 2026
OpenAI is privately held, but is expected to go public sometime in the next year or so.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
To replace Starmer, Burnham must first win a special election sometime this summer in Makerfield, a northern English district in Greater Manchester, to become a lawmaker.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
It had stopped ticking sometime when he went hunting for a jaguar during the several-hundred-mile journey to reach the River of Doubt.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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.
