once

CEFRA1

/wʌn(t)s/

adverb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adverb
One time in the past or at one time.
02
adverb
Extra detail
At any time; ever.

Examples

For once in my life I'm doing a good deed... And it is useless.
I once wanted to be an astrophysicist.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 4

Deep Dive

adverb

Extra meanings

Formerly; during some period in the past.
One and only one time.
Multiplied by one: indicating that a number is multiplied by one.

More examples

In context

We didn't know how we would cope once the money had gone.
He was once the most handsome man around.
I have only once eaten pizza.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

You have to press the button blank to start the machine.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.
1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick
Not only were Jupp Heynckes' team pacey in attack but they were relentless in their pursuit of the ball once they had lost it, and as the game wore on they merely increased their dominance as City wilted in the Allianz Arena.
2011 September 27, Alistair Magowan, “Bayern Munich 2 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport
In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6
Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC
Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18

Keep once

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Origin

adverb

From Middle English ones, from Old English ānes, a remodelling (after ān (“one”)) of ǣnes, itself an extension of ǣne (“once”) with the genitive suffix -es. Equivalent to one + -s. Cognate with Saterland Frisian enst, insen (“once”), West Frisian iens (“once”), Dutch eens (“once”), German Low German eens, ins (“once”), German einst (“once”). More at one (including regarding the development of the pronunciation) and -s.

Deep Dive

adverb

More examples

Related

Quick test

You have to press the button blank— to start the machine.

Nearby

Origin

adverb

You have to press the button blank to start the machine.