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someone vs. somebody

someone vs. somebody: What's the difference?

Someone and somebody are nearly exact synonyms. Somebody may be considered slightly informal compared to someone, but the two words are commonly used interchangeably. Though both are singular nouns, the persons they refer to are unknown so the unspecified pronoun they is often used, as in someone/somebody left their book here.

[ suhm-wuhn, -wuhn ]
pronoun
  1. some person; somebody.
[ suhm-bod-ee, -buhd-ee, -buh-dee ]

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