once
adverb
Simple meaning
One and only one time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wuhnsIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwʌns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
frequency
One and only one time.
mathematics
Multiplied by one: indicating that a number is multiplied by one.
frequency
On one occasion
frequency
At a previous time
temporal location
Formerly; during some period in the past.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (frequency) One and only one time.
Used this way, once is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use once
- “Once we are home, we can rest.”adverb
- “Once I ran into her.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Anew.
In a conclusive way.
Sporadically and infrequently.
Anew.
A swift cursory examination or inspection.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: one and only one time
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.