since

1. 1
   preposition

   From a particular time or event in the past until now or until a later time in the past, covering either the whole period or things happening at some point within it.

   She has lived here since 2010.

   The shop has been closed since the fire.

   Note

   Perfect tenses are its natural partners: had been working since six, has become an almost annual occurrence since the mid-1980s. The word names only where the stretch begins and lets the present, or a later past moment, close it. For measures the same stretch by its length instead, so since six o'clock contrasts with for three hours. The state can run unbroken, or the stretch can hold separate events, as in has called twice since May.

2. 2
   becauseconjunction

   Because, giving a reason that is taken as already known or obvious.

   Since the shop was shut, we went home.

   We'll take the car, since it's raining.

   Similarbecause, as

   Note

   Time and cause share the word, so a clause can lean either way: since he left could mark when something began or why it happened. Context usually settles it. With a perfect main verb, the time reading tends to win, and with a present or future verb (we'll take the car) the reason reading does. The clause sits comfortably at the front of a sentence, in formal prose as in speech.

3. 3
   from when (it happened)conjunction

   During the period after the time when something happened, until now or until another time in the past, covering the whole period or events within it.

   We have not spoken since we argued.

   He has grown a beard since I last saw him.

   Note

   A phrase worn down to a single word: Old English sīþþan comes from sīþ þǣm, "after that (time)", and Middle English sithens later contracted to syns. The main clause usually takes a perfect (have loved, had never let go) because the stretch runs up to the moment in view. The since-clause itself often sits in the simple past: since I first met you. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Old English sīþþan derives from the phrase sīþ þǣm, meaning “after that (time)”. en.wiktionary.org
   • Middle English syns is a contraction of earlier sithens. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   after thatadverb

   From a specified time in the past until now ('I met him last year, but haven't seen him since'), often 'ever since'.

   He fell off his bike and has been careful ever since.

   They quarreled in May and have not spoken since.

   Note

   Here the preposition has dropped its object, and the sentence before supplies it: haven't seen him since means since then. With a length of time in front of it (a short time since, a long time since), it works much like ago and measures back from the present. The preposition must spell out its starting point, but this adverb borrows it from the context.

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