something
Noun pluralsomethings
Verbsomethings, somethinging, somethinged
Pluralsomethings
Formssomethings, somethinging, somethinged
- 1An unspecified or uncertain thing; a particular thing the speaker does not name or identify.
She muttered something under her breath as she left the room.
We should grab something to eat before the movie starts.
UsageAdjectives follow it: something new. To mean 'nothing,' use not ... anything: I didn't see anything.
Oppositenothing
- 2A person or thing regarded as remarkable, impressive, or superlative.
The way she handled the crisis was something to behold.
He thinks he's really something now that he's been promoted.
UsageUsually after really or quite: really something, quite something.
Note
Praise or its opposite, packed into one word. It usually follows really or quite, as in he's really something or she's quite something, and tone decides the verdict. It can admire a great voice or marvel at a curious fact (isn't that something?). It can also condemn a mean act or an awkward awards-show speech without a single harsh word.
- 3A moderate or partial degree of some quality, as in being partly a given kind of person or thing.
She became something of a local celebrity after the rescue.
The discovery was something of a surprise to the research team.
UsageUsed in something of a + noun: something of a surprise.
Note
A hedge that works through a fixed frame, something of a plus a noun: something of a genius, something of a specialist. It softens a label rather than denying it, so the speaker grants the description, but only in part. The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) uses something of with a descriptive phrase instead, something of the stately pose, which shows it can measure a resemblance as well as a role.
- 4A talent or appealing quality that is difficult to put into words.
The young actor has something that the camera simply loves.
His speeches had something that ordinary politicians could never quite imitate.
UsageBest known in the phrase a certain something.
Note
A compliment that admits defeat: the speaker knows the quality is there but cannot name it. Its home is the set phrase a certain something, and its closest equivalent is the borrowed French je ne sais quoi, "I don't know what." Unlike the everyday pronoun, it comes with an article in front, which turns the vagueness into something a person possesses.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- English borrowed je ne sais quoi from French, where its literal meaning is “I don't know what.” en.wiktionary.org
- 5An object or thing referred to vaguely as 'a something', because its name is forgotten, unknown, or unimportant, or because it has no definite identity.
He found a strange plastic something under the couch and had no idea what it was for.
The drawer was full of little somethings he had collected over the years.
Note
With the, the noun points back to a thing already mentioned but never named. Nicholas Clapp's The Road to Ubar asks: What was the something the pilot saw, the something worth killing for? It also takes a plural, somethings, for small unnamed objects. It can name a thing whose nature is unclear as well as one whose name is missing.
- 6To perform an action whose name is forgotten, unknown, or unimportant to the speaker, used as a placeholder verb.
You just something the handle and the door pops open.
I somethinged the settings on my phone, and now the whole screen is upside down.
Note
A stand-in verb, conjugated like any regular verb: somethings, somethinging, somethinged. It turns up when a speaker blanks on the real verb, often while half-singing remembered lyrics, as in Floyd Skloot's A World of Light (2005): Oh how we somethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. The endings keep the grammar intact while the meaning is left blank.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Floyd Skloot wrote A World of Light, published in 2005. govdocs.nebraska.gov
- The quoted wording appears in A World of Light. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 7Used before an adjective as an intensifier, roughly meaning 'very' or 'remarkably'.
The baby cried something fierce when the lights went out.
It snowed something awful the week we first arrived.
UsageComes after the verb in set pairings: miss someone something awful, cry something fierce.
Note
An intensifier that lives in a handful of set pairings: something awful, something terrible, something fierce, something rotten. The pair follows a verb (miss them something fierce, want to something awful) and does the work of an -ly adverb, so I miss them something terrible means I miss them terribly. Eleanor H. Porter's Pollyanna (1913) gives it to a talking character, and it stays firmly conversational.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Eleanor H. Porter wrote Pollyanna, first published in 1913. en.wikipedia.org
- The intensifying expression appears in a character's dialogue in Pollyanna. gutenberg.org
- 8To some degree; somewhat, without reaching the full extent.
From the air, the new stadium looks something like a giant spaceship.
The repairs came to something over two thousand dollars in the end.
UsageMostly in something like: looks something like his father; also something over a number.
Similarsomewhat, slightly, rather
Note
Today it mostly comes before like or over: something like his father, something over three hours. Shakespeare's Measure for Measure shows an earlier, freer use, when Angelo asks leave to "bring you something on the way", meaning to go a little way with the departing Duke.
- 9Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify or put a name to.
The gallery owner stepped back from the huge orange canvas and said, "Well, it's certainly very something."
Her plan was bold, risky and very something, though none of us could say quite what.
UsageUsually after very and a verb: it's very something.
Note
An adjective with no content of its own, used when a thing clearly makes an impression but the right word will not come. It nearly always sits after very and after the verb: it's very something. Speakers often stumble first (it's very — it's very something), and the effect can be wistful, comic, or a polite way to avoid passing judgment.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of something apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English "somþyng," from Old English "sum þing," literally "some thing": a combination of "some" and "thing."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Something derives from Middle English somþyng. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English form derives from Old English sum þing, literally some thing, combining some and thing. en.wiktionary.org