Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb At an earlier time; once.
from The Century Dictionary.
- First; first of all; beforehand.
- In time past; at a certain point or through an indefinite period in the past; of old; here-to-fore.
- In time just past; just now; as aforesaid.
- Synonyms Once, anciently; Formerly, Previously. Formerly means before the present time, and perhaps a considerable time before; previously, before some particular event or time, and generally up to that point: as, the rates of postage were formerly much higher than now; they were reduced in 1845, having previously been at an average of about 12½ cents.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb at some
time in thepast - adverb
previously ;once
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb at a previous time
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Now with regard to My Macy's, particularly in the Midwest and in markets -- I hate to use the word formerly serviced by May Department stores, are there kind of particular adjustments that are taking place to address the somewhat less affluent customer than, let's say, Macy's would have been catering to and might have adjusted the inventory towards after the acquisition?
unknown title 2011
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The term formerly most used to describe existing illegal Israeli "settlements" and their expansion was "natural growth".
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Fisher can win the Dubai World Championship, but isn't guaranteed the title formerly called Order
WN.com - Articles related to Israel, Hamas close to prisoner swap deal 2009
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The label formerly known as Sony BMG is now officially owned by Sony Corp., according to confirmations issued Wednesday.
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In a term formerly reserved for the Kurds of the northern Middle East, Peter Bergen has said that the Pashtuns are in fact the world's largest group of people without a state.
Derek Flood: A Fallacy of Inheritance: Obama and the Missile Strike Policy 2009
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Germany applied to Easter the same title formerly given to the season of the sacred king's love-death, Hoch-Zeit, "the High Time."
Archive 2008-03-01 Jan 2008
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An old marquise made use of a term formerly in vogue at court to express the flowery beauty of the fops and beaux of the olden time, whose language and demeanor were social laws: she called him “the pink of fashion.”
A Marriage Contract 2007
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McGraw-Hill (2008) ¹ I am indebted to Virginia C. Eidenmuller for correcting the original misspelling of the French word formerly appearing in this transcript.
Keynote Address at the TD Waterhouse Investment Advisor Conference 2005
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The UN leader on Friday ended a 10-day personal trip to his native Ghana, where he had conferred on him a title formerly reserved only for the Ashanti king, making him one of the most senior and powerful traditional rulers in his home country.
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At night she tossed about and wandered, and it became at length apparent that there was a settled attack, something like what they called formerly a "nervous fever."
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 41, March, 1861 Various
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