: one single time : one time at least
Please be on time this once.
: that once was : former
… contributions to enrich the legal resources of the once province of Britain.—
J. N. Pomeroy
J. N. Pomeroy
: at the moment when : as soon as
Once she spoke, I recognized her.
Synonyms
Examples of once in a Sentence
Adverb
I will repeat the question once.
The play was performed only once.
She didn't once thank me.
He didn't look at me once.
It was once done that way.
A river once flowed through this canyon.
It was once a booming mining town.
Their music was once very popular.
Noun
I have tried Indian food more than once.
Please be on time just this once.
For once you seem to know what I'm talking about.
Adjective
the once child star is now a lawyer in the entertainment industry
Conjunction
Once she spoke, I recognized her.
you should have stopped wrestling once you knew someone was getting hurt, not five minutes later
Recent Examples on the WebDan Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Apr. 2024
Kane was all smiles during the warmup on Tuesday night, clearly relishing once again being behind enemy lines.
—Matias Grez, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024
But If your skin is more on the sensitive side of the spectrum, my suggestion is to only use gentler acids like lactic, mandelic or salicylic once a week to keep the skin smooth and bright.
—Samantha Mims, Essence, 10 Apr. 2024
The ranch was once owned by Rusty Lyon, a founder of Westcor, which developed some of the most prominent Arizona shopping centers, including Scottsdale Fashion Square.
—Catherine Reagor, The Arizona Republic, 10 Apr. 2024
One writer found out Written by Brad Sanders |
Eccentrics, rejoice—Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s doors are open to the public once again!
—Brad Sanders, SPIN, 10 Apr. 2024
The four-bedroom residence is on the fourth floor of an Art Nouveau-style apartment house in Mayfair that stands on the site of an 18th-century Georgian mansion once occupied by royalty.
—Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 10 Apr. 2024
His vegetarian daughter once took him to a vegan restaurant where Joo tried soy meat for the first time.
—Min Joo Kim, Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2024
These cookies, once indispensable tools for understanding and targeting consumers, are giving way to a new era—one that prioritizes privacy and direct engagement.
—Carol Howley, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Thomas Adamson, ajc, 2 Mar. 2023
Continuing, Belloni pointed out that internal company data apparently suggests that stretching out the release cadence of Netflix shows to a weekly rollout, instead of an all-at-once drop, won’t meaningfully reduce subscriber churn.
—Andy Meek, BGR, 10 Sep. 2022
Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller.
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 9 Dec. 2022
Our memories of these spaces are bound up in their blaring, everywhere-at-once noise.
—K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2022
And on Friday, multiple blogs and news sites declared an even bigger change is coming: A larger, maybe even a complete, shift away from the all-at-once-release of Netflix shows.
—Andy Meek, BGR, 10 Sep. 2022
One similarity between the Orca and an EV is the all-at-once, better-be-ready throttle response.
—Dan Neil, WSJ, 28 July 2022
The platform on at least two occasions has blocked Raichik’s ability to tweet - once for 12 hours in April, and then again for a week in a sanction that ends Saturday.
—Taylor Lorenz, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Peter Jamison, Anchorage Daily News, 3 Sep. 2022
The Chabad of Glencoe event celebrated what was a once in a lifetime opportunity for many to witness the completion of an inked Torah scroll.
—Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 30 Aug. 2022
Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2024
In December, a clip of T-Pain singing the song — without his once signature use of Auto-Tune — became a viral sensation, accruing 2.8 million views on his TikTok account and 2 million on Instagram.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 2 Feb. 2024
Cryptocurrency advocates hope the development thrusts the once niche and nerdy corner of the internet even further into the financial mainstream.
—TIME, 11 Jan. 2024
The once grand building is collapsing under the weight of centuries of evil and, more recently, decades of hoarding.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2023
Over the last fourteen years, RuPaul’s Drag Race has transformed a once niche art into a global business.
—Hugh Ryan, Curbed, 12 Sep. 2023
Her meeting with Bass' children comes weeks after the once boy band member alleged that Spears bailed on meeting his children after a request was made by her team to schedule a visit.
—Morgan Hines, USA TODAY, 25 July 2023
John Cheever, Joseph Heller, Doris Lessing, Chaim Potok and Ray Bradbury were among his clients, along with Katharine Graham, the once publisher of the Washington Post.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 14 June 2023
The once fringe term, associated with the idea that AI poses an existential risk to humanity, is central to OpenAI’s mission and had been embraced by DeepMind, but was avoided by Google’s top brass.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
Adverb
If the producer wants to use an Employment Based Digital Replica for another project, including a sequel or prequel, the producer must once again obtain the actor’s consent and negotiate separate pay for that use.
—Dan Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Apr. 2024
Kane was all smiles during the warmup on Tuesday night, clearly relishing once again being behind enemy lines.
—Matias Grez, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024
But If your skin is more on the sensitive side of the spectrum, my suggestion is to only use gentler acids like lactic, mandelic or salicylic once a week to keep the skin smooth and bright.
—Samantha Mims, Essence, 10 Apr. 2024
The ranch was once owned by Rusty Lyon, a founder of Westcor, which developed some of the most prominent Arizona shopping centers, including Scottsdale Fashion Square.
—Catherine Reagor, The Arizona Republic, 10 Apr. 2024
One writer found out Written by Brad Sanders |
Eccentrics, rejoice—Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s doors are open to the public once again!
—Brad Sanders, SPIN, 10 Apr. 2024
The four-bedroom residence is on the fourth floor of an Art Nouveau-style apartment house in Mayfair that stands on the site of an 18th-century Georgian mansion once occupied by royalty.
—Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 10 Apr. 2024
His vegetarian daughter once took him to a vegan restaurant where Joo tried soy meat for the first time.
—Min Joo Kim, Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2024
These cookies, once indispensable tools for understanding and targeting consumers, are giving way to a new era—one that prioritizes privacy and direct engagement.
—Carol Howley, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Noun
Here are some highlights of ready-to-wear collections Thursday: GIVENCHY GETS FEMININE The once-street and urban Matthew M. Williams uttered a word not often heard describing his designs: Elegant.
—Thomas Adamson, ajc, 2 Mar. 2023
Continuing, Belloni pointed out that internal company data apparently suggests that stretching out the release cadence of Netflix shows to a weekly rollout, instead of an all-at-once drop, won’t meaningfully reduce subscriber churn.
—Andy Meek, BGR, 10 Sep. 2022
Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller.
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 9 Dec. 2022
Our memories of these spaces are bound up in their blaring, everywhere-at-once noise.
—K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2022
And on Friday, multiple blogs and news sites declared an even bigger change is coming: A larger, maybe even a complete, shift away from the all-at-once-release of Netflix shows.
—Andy Meek, BGR, 10 Sep. 2022
One similarity between the Orca and an EV is the all-at-once, better-be-ready throttle response.
—Dan Neil, WSJ, 28 July 2022
The platform on at least two occasions has blocked Raichik’s ability to tweet - once for 12 hours in April, and then again for a week in a sanction that ends Saturday.
—Taylor Lorenz, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Peter Jamison, Anchorage Daily News, 3 Sep. 2022
The Chabad of Glencoe event celebrated what was a once in a lifetime opportunity for many to witness the completion of an inked Torah scroll.
—Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 30 Aug. 2022
Adjective
Winners of six straight games, the Warriors effectively clinched the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference on Thursday night with a win over the Rockets, giving them a four-game lead and a tiebreaker over their once rivals with six games to play.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2024
In December, a clip of T-Pain singing the song — without his once signature use of Auto-Tune — became a viral sensation, accruing 2.8 million views on his TikTok account and 2 million on Instagram.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 2 Feb. 2024
Cryptocurrency advocates hope the development thrusts the once niche and nerdy corner of the internet even further into the financial mainstream.
—TIME, 11 Jan. 2024
The once grand building is collapsing under the weight of centuries of evil and, more recently, decades of hoarding.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2023
Over the last fourteen years, RuPaul’s Drag Race has transformed a once niche art into a global business.
—Hugh Ryan, Curbed, 12 Sep. 2023
Her meeting with Bass' children comes weeks after the once boy band member alleged that Spears bailed on meeting his children after a request was made by her team to schedule a visit.
—Morgan Hines, USA TODAY, 25 July 2023
John Cheever, Joseph Heller, Doris Lessing, Chaim Potok and Ray Bradbury were among his clients, along with Katharine Graham, the once publisher of the Washington Post.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 14 June 2023
The once fringe term, associated with the idea that AI poses an existential risk to humanity, is central to OpenAI’s mission and had been embraced by DeepMind, but was avoided by Google’s top brass.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'once.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adverb, Noun, Adjective, and Conjunction
Middle English ones, from genitive of on one
First Known Use
Adverb
12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Adjective
1620, in the meaning defined above
Conjunction
1747, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of once was
in the 12th century
Phrases Containing once
Dictionary Entries Near once
Cite this Entry
“Once.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/once. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
once
2 of 3 noun
: one single time
just this once
once
3 of 3 conjunction
: as soon as
once that is done, all will be well
More from Merriam-Webster on once
Nglish: Translation of once for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of once for Arabic Speakers
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