¹some

adjective \ˈsəm, for 2 without stress\

—used to refer to a person or thing that is not known, named, or specified

: of an unspecified amount or number

: of a fairly large amount or number

Full Definition of SOME

: being an unknown, undetermined, or unspecified unit or thing <some person knocked>

a : being one, a part, or an unspecified number of something (as a class or group) named or implied <some gems are hard>

b : being of an unspecified amount or number <give me some water> <have some apples>

: remarkable, striking <that was some party>

: being at least one —used to indicate that a logical proposition is asserted only of a subclass or certain members of the class denoted by the term which it modifies

See some defined for English-language learners

See some defined for kids

Origin of SOME

Middle English som, adjective & pron., from Old English sum; akin to Old High German sum some, Greek hamē somehow, homos same — more at same

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to SOME

Synonyms: anonymous, given, one, certain, unidentified, unnamed, unspecified

Rhymes with SOME

bum, chum, come, crumb, cum, drum, dumb, from, glum, gum, hum, lum, mum, numb, plum, plumb, rum, scrum, scum, slum, strum, sum, them, thrum, thumb

²some

pronoun, singular or plural in construction \ˈsəm\

Definition of SOME

: one indeterminate quantity, portion, or number as distinguished from the rest

: an indefinite additional amount <ran a mile and then some>

First Known Use of SOME

before 12th century

³some

adverb \ˈsəm, ˌsəm\

: to an unspecified amount or degree

Full Definition of SOME

: about <some 80 houses> <twenty-some people>

a : in some degree : somewhat <felt some better>

b : to some degree or extent : a little <the cut bled some> <I need to work on it some more>

c —used as a mild intensive <that's going some>

See some defined for English-language learners

Usage Discussion of SOME

When some is used to modify a number, it is almost always a round number <a community of some 150,000 inhabitants> but because some is slightly more emphatic than about or approximately it is occasionally used with a more exact number in an intensive function <an expert parachutist, he has some 115 jumps to his credit — Current Biography>. When some is used without a number, most commentators feel that somewhat is to be preferred. Their advice is an oversimplification, however; only when some modifies an adjective, usually a comparative, will somewhat always substitute smoothly. When some modifies a verb or adverb, and especially when it follows a verb, substitution of somewhat may prove awkward <Italy forced me to grow up some — E. W. Brooke> <I'm not a prude; I've been around some in my day — Roy Rogers> <here in Newport, both Southern Cross and Courageous practiced some more — W. N. Wallace>.