always
Syllables: al·ways/ˈɔːl.weɪz/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈoː.wɛjz/
always adverb: at all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.
Adverb
always (not comparable)
- At all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.
- God is always the same.
- Green has always been my favorite color. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.
- Synonyms:
- perpetually, continually, all the time, every time, 5ever, ad infinitum, aye, endlessly, eternally, ever
- Antonyms:
- at no time, never, at latter Lammas, in the reign of Queen Dick, ne'er, never ever, not while pussy's a cat, on the second Tuesday of the week, sine die, when Hell freezes over
- Constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals (opposed to sometimes or occasionally).
- In this street, the shops always close during lunchtime.
- His liveries are black,—his carriage is black,—he always rides a black galloway,—and, faith, if he ever marry again, I think he will show his respect to the sainted Maria by marrying a black woman.1840, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Money
- Synonyms:
- invariably, uniformly, consistently, constantly, immutably, invariously, still, unalterably, unchangeably, unchangingly
- if necessary, or if there is no better option; in any event.
- I thought I could always go back to work.
- Synonyms:
- anyhow, anyway, at any rate, regardless, after all, algate, any road up, anyhoo, anyroad, anyways
always meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
always in Hindi
- at all times
- हमेशा hameśā, सदा sadā, नित्य nitya, निरंतर nirantar
- constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals
- हमेशा hameśā, सदा sadā, निरंतर nirantar
always in Tamil
- at all times
- எப்பொழுதும் eppoḻutum
always in Marathi
- at all times
- नेहमी nehmī
always in Urdu
- at all times
- ہمیشہ hameśā, سدا sadā, نتیہ nitya
- constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals
- ہمیشہ hameśā
More languagesFewer languages
- always in Bengali
- হামেশা hameśa, সর্বদা śorboda
- always in Telugu
- ఎల్లప్పుడు ellappuḍu
- always in Malayalam
- എല്ലായ്പ്പോഴും ellāyppōḻuṁ, എപ്പോഴും eppōḻuṁ
- always in Kannada
- ಸದಾ
- always in Odia
- ସବୁବେଳେ sabubeḷe
- always in Sanskrit
- नित्यम् nityam, सदैव sadaiva, सततम् satatam, सर्वदा sarvadā
- always in Sinhala
- නිතරම nitarama
- always in Nepali
- सधैँ
- always in Tagalog
- lagi
- always in Arabic
- دَائِمًا dāʔiman, أَبَدًا ʔabadan, دَوْمًا dawman, دَوْمًا مَا dawman mā
- always in Malay
- sentiasa, selalu, sepanjang masa, setiap masa
- always in Indonesian
- selalu
- always in Persian
- همیشه hamiše
- always in Thai
- ตลอด dtà-lɔ̀ɔt, เสมอ sà-mə̌ə, บ่อย bɔ̀i
- always in Vietnamese
- luôn luôn, luôn, mãi mãi
- always in Myanmar
- အမြဲ a.mrai:, အမြဲတမ်း a.mrai:tam:, အမြဲတစေ a.mrai:ta.ce, အစဉ် a.cany
Examples of always in a sentence
- Airplanes did not always exist as a form of transportation.
- Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true.2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
- They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
- She used to always talk about how she wished she had time to write all day, but now she had the time, she never even went near the typewriter.1981 February 14, Andrea Loewenstein, “Voices in the Night”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 8:
- I am her always and she is my always and that’s the whole trouble.1977, Barry Hannah, “Coming Close to Donna”, in Esquire, New York, N.Y., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76, column 2:
Synonyms of always
- perpetually
- continually
- all the time
- every time
- 5ever
- ad infinitum
- endlessly
- eternally
- ever
- ever after
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- evermore
- fivever
- for good
- forever
- forevermore
- for evermore
- for ever and ever
- for ever more
- incessantly
- in perpetuity
- in saecula saeculorum
- interminably
- lastingly
- never-endingly
- permanently
- sempiternally
- unendingly
- until hell freezes over
- until Kingdom come
- invariably
- uniformly
- consistently
- constantly
- immutably
- invariously
- unalterably
- unchangeably
- unchangingly
- unvaryingly
- anyhow
Antonyms
- at no time
- never
- at latter Lammas
- in the reign of Queen Dick
- ne'er
- never ever
- not while pussy's a cat
- on the second Tuesday of the week
- sine die
- when Hell freezes over
7 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of always
| alternative pronunciation-spelling | allus |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | alwayes |
| alternative form (obsolete) | alwayz |
| alternative form (obsolete) | alwayez |
Origin of always
From Middle English alweyes, alwayes, alweys, a variant of Middle English alwey, alway (“always”), from Old English ealneġ, ealne weġ (“always, perpetually”, literally “all the way, all the while, continuously”), from ealne + weġ (accusative case), equivalent to alway + -s. Cognate with Scots always (“always”), Low German allerwegens (“very often”, literally “all ways'”). More at all, way.
Words formed from always
- a bad penny always comes back
- a bad penny always turns up
- a bad workman always blames his tools
- always already
- always-on
- as always
- good boys deserve fudge always
- it is always darkest before the dawn
- it is always darkest just before the dawn
- the bad penny always comes back
- the bad penny always turns up
- the cobbler always wears the worst shoes
- the customer is always right
- the darkest hour is always just before the dawn
- the first step is always the hardest
- the grass is always greener
- the grass is always greener on the other side
- the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
- the grass is always greener on the other side of the road
- the house always wins
- the poor we will always have with us
- there's always a bigger fish
- the shoemaker always wears the worst shoes
- we have always been at war with Eastasia
- alwaysness
Phrases with always
- always was, always will be
- once a thief, always a thief
- always a bridesmaid, never a bride
- we've always been at war with Eurasia
- always the bridesmaid, never the bride
- we've always been at war with Eastasia
- we have always been at war with Eurasia
- we've always been at war with East Asia
- the shoemaker's son always goes barefoot
- trust everybody, but always cut the deck
- trust everybody, but always cut the cards
- we have always been at war with East Asia
Questions about always
- What does always mean?
- Always means at all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.
- What is always in Hindi?
- Always in Hindi is हमेशा (hameśā), सदा (sadā), नित्य (nitya). See Always meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use always in a sentence?
- Airplanes did not always exist as a form of transportation.
- What part of speech is always?
- Always is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce always?
- Always is pronounced /ˈɔːl.weɪz/ (UK).
Words near always in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: always (page history and authors); always (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); always (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-always.ogg, En-us-always.ogg.
Cite this entry: “always.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/always. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
