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something

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:some-thingand-something

English

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Request for quotationsThis entry needsquotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting,durably archived quotes, then please add them!
Particularly: “pronoun sense: talent or quality”
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishsomþyng,some-thing,som thing,sum thinge,sum þinge, fromOld Englishsumþing(literally“some thing”), equivalent tosome +‎thing. CompareOld Englishāwiht(“something”, literally“some thing, any thing”),Swedishnågonting(“something”, literally“some thing, any thing”).

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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something (indefinite pronoun)

  1. Anuncertain orunspecifiedthing;one thing.
    Synonym:(especially in dictionaries)sth
    I must have forgotten to packsomething, but I can't think what.
    I havesomething for you in my bag.
    I have a feelingsomething good is going to happen today.
    The answer to four down is Psomething Tsomething Y.
    She looked thirty-something. (anything from thirty-one to thirty-nine years old)
    • 2013 June 28,Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, inThe Guardian Weekly, volume189, number 3, page21:
      Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea thatsomething drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
  2. (colloquial, of someone or something) Aquality to amoderatedegree.
    The performance wassomething of a disappointment.
    That child issomething of a genius.
    • 1897 December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill, chapter V, inThe Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company; London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC:
      Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, withsomething of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway, and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
    • 2020 May 7, Katie Rife, “If you’re looking to jump in your seat, make a playdate with Z”, inThe Onion AV Club‎[1], archived fromthe original on16 May 2020:
      Christensen, who also edited and co-wrote the film, is becomingsomething of a specialist in child horror, having launched his feature directorial career with the infant-themed Still/Born in 2017.
  3. (colloquial, of a person) Atalent or quality that isdifficult tospecify.
    Synonym:je ne sais quoi
    She has a certainsomething.
  4. (colloquial, often withreally orquite) Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way.
    He's reallysomething! I've never heard such a great voice.
    She's quitesomething. I can't believe she would do such a mean thing.
    Some marmosets are less than six inches tall. —Well, isn't thatsomething?
    • 2016 August 29, Anna Moeslein, “The Best and Worst Moments of the MTV VMAs 2016”, inGlamour‎[2]:
      Kanye[West]'s speech was...something, that's for sure. As for a best or worst moment? Apparently, it depends on what you think of Yeezy because Twitter was a house divided.

Derived terms

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Related terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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unspecified object
a small quantity
talent that is hard to pin down
somebody who is superlative in some way
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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something (notcomparable)

  1. Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.
    • 1986, Marie Nicole,Foxy Lady,→ISBN, page20:
      "Very poetic." They came to a halt before the outer door. "It's verysomething," Rusty said wistfully. "How do you do it?"
    • 1988, Colleen Klein,A Space for Delight, page200:
      "It's very — it's verysomething," said Lucy. "It's a kind of love-letter, isn't it?"
    • 2014, Sommer Nectarhoff,A Buck in the Snow,→ISBN:
      If it isn't large, I certainly can't say it's small. But it's verysomething.
    • 2015, Edward Carey,Lungdon,→ISBN:
      'How proud they have become,' I said, 'how disobedient. I must say, all in all, it's verysomething.'

Adverb

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something (notcomparable)

  1. (degree)Somewhat; to adegree.
    The baby lookssomething like his father.
  2. (colloquial, especially in certain set combinations)Used to adverbialise a following adjective
    I miss themsomething terrible/rotten. (I miss them terribly)
    • 1913,Eleanor H. Porter,Pollyanna‎[3], L.C. Page,→OCLC:
      You can't thrash when you have rheumatic fever – though you want tosomething awful, Mrs. White says.
    • 1994 Summer, Rebecca T. Goodwin, “Keeper of the house”, inParis Review, volume36, number131, page161:
      Seeing him here, though, I all of a sudden feel more like I been gone from home three years, instead of three weeks, and I miss my peoplesomething fierce.
    • 2001 January, Susan Schorn, “Bobby Lee Carter and the hand of God”, inU.S. Catholic, volume66, number 1, page34:
      And then she put the coffin right out on her front porch. Jim told everyone he'd built it kind of roomy since Bobby Lee was on the stout side, but that it better get used quick because sycamore tends to warpsomething terrible.

Derived terms

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to a high degree

Verb

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something (third-person singular simple presentsomethings,present participlesomethinging,simple past and past participlesomethinged)

  1. (colloquial)Designates an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.
    • 1890,William Dean Howells,A Hazard of New Fortunes[4]
      He didn’t apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it wassomethinged—vetoed, I believe she said.
    • 2003, George Angel, “Allegoady,” inJuncture, Lara Stapleton and Veronica Gonzalez edd.[5]
      She hovers over the somethingsomethinging and awkwardly lowers her bulk.
    • 2005, Floyd Skloot,A World of Light[6]
      “Oh how wesomethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. Dear, was I ever on the stage?”

Noun

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something (pluralsomethings)

  1. An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
    • 1903,Florence Converse,Long Will: A Romance, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.:Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, Mass.:The Riverside Press,page138:
      Yea, ’t is true; I ’d know thee by thine eyen, that are gray, and thoughtful, and dark with asomething that lies behind the colour of them,—and shining by the light of a lamp lit somewhere within.
    • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, inThe Economist, volume407, number8839, page52:
      From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…]  But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear thatsomething extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
  2. An object whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g., from words of a song. Also used to refer to an object earlier indefinitely referred to as 'something' (pronoun sense).
    • 1999, Nicholas Clapp,The Road to Ubar[7]
      What was thesomething the pilot saw, thesomething worth killing for?
    • 2004, Theron Q Dumont,The Master Mind[8]
      Moreover, in all of our experience with these sense impressions, we never lose sight of the fact that they are but incidental facts of our mental existence, and that there is aSomething Within which is really the Subject of these sense reports—aSomething to which these reports are presented, and which receives them.
    • 2004, Ira Levin,The Stepford Wives[9]
      She wiped something with a cloth, wiped at the wall shelf, and put thesomething on it, clinking glass.

Translations

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Translations
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