Word.ws English Dictionary

since

/sɪn(t)s/

since adverb: from a specified time in the past.

Adverb

since (not comparable)

  1. From a specified time in the past.
    • I met him last year, but haven't seen him since.
    • A short/long time since

Preposition

since

  1. Continuously during that period of time.
    • I'd known her only since the previous year, so from/since the moment we got married we’ve quarrelled.
    • I'd been working since six o’clock, and I was getting tired.
  2. At certain points during that period of time.
    • "Mujtahidd" has attracted almost 300,000 followers since the end of last year, when he began posting scandalous claims about the Saudi elite.2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian

Conjunction

since

  1. From the time that.
    • I have loved you since I first met you.
    • I've known her since I've lived in her street, but I've not seen her out of the house since her husband died.
    Synonyms:
    sithen
  2. Because.
    • Since you didn't call, we left without you.
    • The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.[…]The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although...1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249
    Synonyms:
    sith
  3. (obsolete) When or that.
    • O ſir Iohn, doe you remember ſince wee lay all night in the Winde-mill, in S Georges field.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...

since meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

since in Hindi

from (time)
... से

since in Urdu

from (time)
... سے

since in Bengali

from (time)
অবধি obodhi, থেকে theke, হতে hote, হইতে hoite

since in Telugu

from (time)
నుండి nuṇḍi, నుంచి nuñci
More languagesFewer languages
since in Malayalam
മുതൽ mutal, കാരണം kāraṇaṁ
since in Arabic
مُنْذُ munḏu, لِأَنَّ liʔanna
since in Malay
sejak
since in Indonesian
sejak, dari, mulai, sejak dari
since in Persian
از az, از زمانی که, از آنجایی که
since in Thai
ตั้งแต่ dtâng dtàe, ตั้งแต่ครั้ง dtâng dtàe kráng, เนื่องจาก nêuang jàak
since in Vietnamese
từ, từ khi, kể từ lúc
since in Myanmar
ကတည်းက ka.tany:ka.

Examples of since in a sentence

  • Since leaving school, I've completely changed.
  • Since the 1980s, computers have had increasing roles in all aspects of human life—including an involvement in criminal acts.2013 September-October, Simson Garfinkel, “Digital Forensics”, in American Scientist:
  • He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
  • Since disbursement is the last step in the process of creating a mortgage instrument, the disbursement date may lag the transaction date by a considerable period.1970, Jack M. Guttentag, “New Series on Home Mortgage Yields Since 1951, Volume 92”, in National Bureau of Economic Research, page 132:

All 40 example sentences with since

Synonyms of since

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of since

Forms of since

alternative form (archaic)sence

Origin of since

From Middle English syns, synnes, contraction of earlier sithens, sithence, from sithen (“after, since”) ( + -s, adverbial genitive suffix), from Old English sīþþan, from the phrase sīþ þǣm (“after/since that (time)”), from sīþ (“since, after”) + þǣm dative singular of þæt. Cognate with Dutch sinds (“since”), German seit (“since”), Danish siden (“since”), Icelandic síðan (“since”) Scots syne (“since”).

Words formed from since

Phrases with since

Words that rhyme with since

Questions about since

What does since mean?
Since means from a specified time in the past.
What is since in Hindi?
Since in Hindi is ... से. See Since meaning in Hindi.
How do you use since in a sentence?
Since leaving school, I've completely changed.
What part of speech is since?
Since can be an adverb, a preposition or a conjunction.
How do you pronounce since?
Since is pronounced /sɪn(t)s/.

Words near since in the dictionary

  1. sincalide
  2. sincaline
  3. sincamas
  4. Sincapore
  5. sincarpal
  6. since
  7. since Adam was a boy
  8. since Adam was an oakum boy
  9. since Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard
  10. since God was a boy
  11. since Hector was a pup

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: since (page history and authors). 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-us-since.ogg.

Cite this entry: “since.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/since. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.