Word.ws English Dictionary

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)

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. (informal) if necessary, or if there is no better option; in any event.
    • I thought I could always go back to work.

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:

All 40 example sentences with always

Synonyms of always

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

7 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of always

Forms of always

alternative pronunciation-spellingallus
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

Phrases with always

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

  1. Alwards
  2. alway
  3. alwayes
  4. alwayez
  5. alwayness
  6. always
  7. always a bridesmaid, never a bride
  8. always already
  9. always the bridesmaid, never the bride
  10. always was, always will be
  11. always-on

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.