Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • pronoun An undetermined or unspecified thing.
  • pronoun An unspecified or undetermined amount or extent.
  • pronoun One having some or many of the same attributes, character, or essence as another.
  • noun A remarkable or important thing or person.
  • noun One who falls into a specified age range. Often used in combination.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a member of a specified age range. Often used in combination.
  • adverb A little; somewhat.
  • adverb Informal To an extreme degree.
  • idiom (something else) One that is very special or quite remarkable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In some measure or degree; somewhat; rather: a little.
  • At some distance.
  • noun Some thing; a certain thing indefinitely considered; a certain but as yet unknown, unspecified, or unexplained thing; an event, circumstance, action, or affair the nature or name of which has not as yet been determined, or is not now known, and cannot therefore be named or specified: as, something must have happened to detain him; I want to tell you something.
  • noun An actual thing; an entity: as, something or nothing.
  • noun A thing worthy of consideration; a person or thing of importance.
  • noun A part or portion more or less; an indefinite quantity or degree; a little.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In some degree; somewhat; to some extent; at some distance.
  • noun Anything unknown, undetermined, or not specifically designated; a certain indefinite thing; an indeterminate or unknown event; an unspecified task, work, or thing.
  • noun A part; a portion, more or less; an indefinite quantity or degree; a little.
  • noun A person or thing importance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • pronoun An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.
  • pronoun colloquial A quality to a moderate degree.
  • pronoun colloquial, of a person A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.
  • pronoun colloquial Somebody or something who is superlative in some way.
  • adjective Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.
  • adverb degree somewhat; to a degree
  • adverb degree, colloquial To a high degree.
  • verb Applied to an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.
  • noun An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
  • noun 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).

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

some +‎ thing

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Examples

  • Notwithstanding the slightly opaque composition of the NYT story, and the fact that McCain is now denying everything (something his people were not doing in the initial statement last night), I'd say the Times story has enough of a 'They've gotta have * something*' factor to keep it alive for a while, absent any further revelations.

    New WaPo Polls Show Very Tight Races In Ohio And Texas 2009

  • But on actualist representationism, no possible world contains a representation which says that something does not exist, for it is contradictory provided that ˜something™ means

    Possible Objects Yagisawa, Takashi 2009

  • True, you shouldn't *have* to do webcomics just for the money, but if you want to make a living off something you love, you gotta' have *something* to compensate for it!

    How to Make Webcomics « Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog 2008

  • Your savings account is probably earning something paltry like 1.something%.

    Stop Living Paycheck To Paycheck - The Consumerist 2007

  • Unfortunately, the characters were a bit flatter than my ideal -- I kept waiting for Isabelle to do something dramatic -- but the plot was such that I read it all in one sitting, so that must mean *something*.

    October 2007 2007

  • Unfortunately, the characters were a bit flatter than my ideal -- I kept waiting for Isabelle to do something dramatic -- but the plot was such that I read it all in one sitting, so that must mean *something*.

    Books Books Books - A Dress A Day 2007

  • The resulting picture is something that I wish I had an appropriate podcast to use this as a logo for, or *something* appropriate.

    everyone should have a cyberskeletal hand badger 2006

  • Additionally, there is something to be said for plain outright common sense…..something many people in here lack.

    Think Progress » Boehner promises to ‘beat John Kerry to death’ 2006

  • You are also correct in what you suspect– if an idea teaches me that if I pray there is something listening, then I expect *something* to happen even something subtile if I pray.

    Here's How To Break The Law? - The Panda's Thumb 2005

  • Last night Tawnia called and asked me if I wanted to do something at the same time Stacy instant messaged me and asked if I wanted to do something…

    goldylockz22 Diary Entry goldylockz22 2005

Comments

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  • Sandra says, "Sunthin"

    September 12, 2009