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someone

/ˌsʌmˈwʌn/
/ˈsʌmwən/
IPA guide

Other forms: someones

The word someone refers a person or an individual, but not necessarily a specific one. If you're not hungry enough for dessert after lunch, you can ask the friends at your table, "Does someone want my ice cream sandwich?"

It's a funny contradiction, but the noun someone can be used to mean "any unspecified person," but also "a very important person." So a child might say, "When I grow up, I want to be someone," meaning that they want to be well-known or famous, or just really good at something. Someone and somebody are synonyms, so you can use them interchangeably, although someone is slightly more formal.

Definitions of someone
  1. noun
    a human being
    see moresee less
    type of:
    being, organism
    a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently
    causal agency, causal agent, cause
    any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results
  2. noun
    a person who is important, as in, "The staff at that hotel make you feel like somebody"
    synonyms: somebody
  3. pronoun
    an unspecified person, as in, "It's somebody else's turn to do dishes" or "Did somebody leave a bag here?"
    synonyms: somebody
Pronunciation
US
/ˌsʌmˈwʌn/
UK
/ˈsʌmwən/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘someone'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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