Sometimes

//ˈsʌmtaɪmz// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Former; sometime. not-comparable, obsolete

    "Farewell old Gaunt, thy ſometimes brothers wife / With her companion Greefe, muſt end her life."

Adverb
  1. 1
    On some occasions, over some periods, or in certain circumstances, but not always. not-comparable

    "Sometimes I sit and think, but mostly I just sit."

  2. 2
    On a certain occasion in the past; once. not-comparable, obsolete

    "What art thou that vſurp’ſt this time of night, / Together with that Faire and Warlike forme / In which the Maieſty of buried Denmarke / Did ſometimes march : By Heauen I charge thee ſpeake."

Adverb
  1. 1
    on certain occasions or in certain cases but not always wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
whilewhilomaforeaforehandalreadyantecedently

Example

More examples

"Sometimes he can be a strange guy."

Etymology

From Middle English sumtymes, somtymes, som tymes, equivalent to sometime + -s (adverbial suffix). Compare West Frisian somstiden (“sometimes”), Dutch somtijds, somwijlen (“sometimes”).

Related phrases

Homer sometimes nodssometimes a cigar is a cigarsometimes a cigar is just a cigarsometimes foodsometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.