Word.ws English Dictionary

some

/sʌm/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/sʊm/

some pronoun: a certain number (multiple but not all).

Pronoun

some

  1. A certain number (multiple but not all).
    • Some enjoy spicy food, others prefer it milder.
    • Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and...2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18
  2. An indefinite quantity.
    • Can I have some of them?
    Synonyms:
    a few
  3. An indefinite amount; a part. Used mostly with abstract and nonliving objects.
    • Please give me some of the cake.
    • Everyone is wrong some of the time.
  4. (obsolete) Someone, a certain person.
    • Euery counseller extolleth counsell; but there is some that counselleth for himselfe.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus 37:7

Determiner

some

  1. (stressed form) A nonzero, unspecified proportion of (a bounded set of countable things): at least two.
    • Near-synonym: any
    • Some people like camping.
    Synonyms:
    any
    Antonyms:
    zero, no, a lot of, many, numerous, countless
  2. A nonzero, unspecified quantity or number of (an unbounded set of countable things).
    • Near-synonym: any
    • Would you like some grapes?
    Synonyms:
    any
    Antonyms:
    zero, no, a lot of, many, numerous, countless
  3. An unspecified amount of (something uncountable).
    • Near-synonym: any
    • Would you like some water?
    Synonyms:
    any
    Antonyms:
    zero, no
  4. (stressed form) A certain, an unspecified or unknown.
    • I've just met some guy who said he knew you.
    • The sequence S converges to zero for some initial value v.
  5. (stressed form) A considerable quantity or number of.
    • He had edited the paper for some years.
    • He stopped working some time ago.
  6. (stressed form) Approximately, about (with a number).
    • She has worked at the company for some thirty years now. (31 and two months, to be exact.)
    • There were only some three or four cars in the lot at the time.
  7. (stressed form) Emphasizing a number.
    • She has worked at the company for some five years now! How remarkable!
  8. (informal, stressed form) A remarkable.
    • He is some acrobat!
    • That was some speech you gave!

Adverb

some (not comparable)

  1. Of a measurement: approximately, roughly.
    • I guess he must have weighed some 90 kilos.
    • Some 30,000 spectators witnessed the feat.
  2. (dialectal) To a certain extent, or for a certain period.
    • They walked some and talked some.2014, C. R. Scott, Invisible War: Attack the Covenant
  3. (dialectal) Somewhat, a little.
    • I felt some better and continued taking the preparation through all that day, still ad libitum, and by evening, twenty-four hours after I began its use, felt considerably improved.1899, Columbus Medical Journal: A Magazine of Medicine and Surgery, page 108
    • Have felt some better to-day than yesterday but not quite normal. A little nervous all day. Slept better than previous night, but not so well as usual, for about 7 hrs.1912, Mary Theodora Whitley, An Empirical Study of Certain Tests for Individual Differences, page 154

some meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

some in Hindi

indefinite quantity or number
थोड़ा thoṛā, कुछ kuch, कोई koī
indefinite amount, part
कुछ kuch, थोड़ा thoṛā
(stressed form) a nonzero, unspecified proportion of
कुछ kuch
certain, unspecified or unknown
कोई koī, कुछ kuch

some in Tamil

a certain number
சில cila, சிலர் cilar
indefinite quantity or number
கொஞ்சம் koñcam
indefinite amount, part
கொஞ்சம் koñcam
unspecified quantity or number of
கொஞ்சம் koñcam

some in Urdu

(stressed form) a nonzero, unspecified proportion of
کچھ kuch
certain, unspecified or unknown
کوئی koī, کچھ kuch

some in Bengali

a certain number
একটু ekṭu
indefinite quantity or number
একটু ekṭu
indefinite amount, part
একটু ekṭu
More languagesFewer languages
some in Tagalog
may, mayroon
some in Arabic
بَعْضٌ baʕḍun, بَعْض baʕḍ
some in Malay
seberapa, beberapa
some in Indonesian
beberapa
some in Persian
کمی kami
some in Thai
บาง baang, มั่ง mâng
some in Vietnamese
vài, một vài, một số, mấy
some in Myanmar
တချို့ ta.hkyui., အချို့ a.hkyui.

Examples of some in a sentence

  • After some persuasion, he finally agreed.
  • Some 4,000 acres of land were flooded.
  • Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too.2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
  • Many people, especially some evangelical Christians, have been less than optimistic about the Potter influence.2006, Charles H Lippy, Faith in America [Three Volumes] [3 Volumes]: Changes, Challenges, New Directions, Greenwood Publishing Group...
  • University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020:
  • Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers.2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4, archived from the original on 29 Jun...

All 40 example sentences with some

Synonyms of some

27 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of some

Forms of some

alternative formsom
alternative formsom'
alternative formsum

Origin of some

From Middle English som, sum, from Old English sum (“some, a certain one”), from Proto-West Germanic *sum, from Proto-Germanic *sumaz (“some, a certain one”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, whole”). Cognate Scots sum, some (“some”), North Frisian som, sam, säm (“some”), West Frisian sommige, somlike (“some”), dialectal Dutch som, saom (“some”), standard Dutch sommige (“some”), Low German somige (“some”), German dialectal summige (“some”), Danish somme (“some”), Swedish somlig (“some”), Norwegian sum, som (“some”), Icelandic sumur (“some”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌼𐍃 (sums, “one, someone”). More at same.

Words formed from some

Phrases with some

127 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with some

42 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about some

What does some mean?
Some means a certain number (multiple but not all).
What is some in Hindi?
Some in Hindi is थोड़ा (thoṛā), कुछ (kuch), कोई (koī). See Some meaning in Hindi.
How do you use some in a sentence?
After some persuasion, he finally agreed.
What part of speech is some?
Some can be a pronoun, a determiner or an adverb.
How do you pronounce some?
Some is pronounced /sʌm/ (UK).

Words near some in the dictionary

  1. sombuddy
  2. sombudy
  3. somdel
  4. Somdomite
  5. Somdomites
  6. some
  7. some body
  8. some day
  9. some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you
  10. some days you get the bear, other days the bear gets you
  11. some few

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: some (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-some.wav, en-us-some.ogg.

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