someone

Pluralsomeones

1. 1
   unknown personpronoun

   One or some person whose identity is unknown or not stated.

   I think someone left the gate open, because the dog got out during the night.

   She felt that someone was watching her from across the room.

   UsageTakes a singular verb (someone has), and describing words usually follow it: someone new, someone more experienced.

   Similarsomebody

   Oppositenobody

2. 2
   particular personnouncountable

   A particular but unnamed person, usually one the speaker has in mind but chooses not to identify.

   He bought flowers for a special someone he had met that summer.

   Her smile suggested there was a someone she wasn't quite ready to talk about.

   UsageUsually after a or that with a describing word: a special someone, a certain someone.

   Note

   The plural can be pointed. It draws attention to the real people behind a vague phrase: the someones who gained and the someones who paid. James Crosswhite's Deep Rhetoric (2013) writes of the someones who say and hear.

3. 3
   important personnoun

   A person regarded as important or of high standing among others.

   Years of effort had turned the quiet clerk into someone at the firm.

   Growing up with nothing, he swore that one day he would be someone in this town.

   UsageUsually in be someone or feel like someone, with no article before it.

   Similarsomebody

   Oppositenobody

Showing meanings only. Show all 3