• sts.

FromMiddle Englishsumtymes,somtymes,som tymes, equivalent tosometime +‎-s(adverbial suffix). CompareWest Frisiansomstiden(“sometimes”),Dutchsomtijds,somwijlen(“sometimes”).

• enPR:sŭmʹtīmz,IPA^(key):/ˈsʌmtaɪmz/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation:some‧times

sometimes (notcomparable)

1. Onsomeoccasions, over someperiods, or incertaincircumstances, but notalways.[from 16th c.]

   Synonyms:at one time or another,at times,every so often,from time to time,occasionally,once in a while;see alsoThesaurus:occasionally

   Sometimes I sit and think, but mostly I just sit.

   • a.1667,Jeremy Taylor, “Agenda; or, Things to Be Done”, inThe Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., volume III, London: Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis, published1836,page730:

     It is good that wesometimes be contradicted, and ill though of, and that we always bear it well, even when we deserve to be well spoken of : perfect peace and security cannot be had in this world.

   • 1897 December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill, chapter V, inThe Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company; London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC:

     We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the tripsometimes twice in a day.

   • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, inThe Economist, volume407, number8839, page55:

     The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology wouldsometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2. (obsolete) On a certain occasion in the past;once.[16th–17th c.]

   Synonyms:at one time,in the past,sometime;see alsoThesaurus:formerly

   • c.1599–1602 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene i],page152, column 2, lines46–49:

     What art thou that vſurp’ſt this time of night, / Together with that Faire and Warlike forme / In which the Maieſty of buried Denmarke / Didſometimes march : By Heauen I charge thee ſpeake.

   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Ephesians5:8:

     For yee weresometimes darkenesse, but now are yee light in the Lord: walke as children of light[…]

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton], “Remedies against diſcontents”, inThe Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 7, page351:

     They detract, ſcoffe and raile ſaith one, & barke at mee on every ſide, but I, like thatAlbanian dogſometimes given toAlexander for a preſent,vindico me ab illis ſolo contemptu, I ly ſtill and ſleep, vindicate my ſelfe by contempt alone.

• sometime

sometimes (notcomparable)

1. (obsolete)Former;sometime.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance),William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene ii], lines54–55:

     Farewell oldGaunt, thyſometimes brothers wife / With her companion Greefe, muſt end her life.