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[ adverb ] on one occasion
Synonyms Examples "once I ran into her" Used in print (Philip Reaves, "Who Rules the Marriage Bed?"...)One such man once confided to Dr._Theodor_Reik , New_York psychiatrist , that he preferred to have his wife the sexual aggressor . `` Grandma was n't expected to like it '' , Dr._Marion_Hilliard , the late Toronto gynecologist , once summed_up the attitude of the ' 90 s . (James Boylan, "Mutinity"...)Once , after the Discovery lay for a week in rough weather , Hudson ordered the anchor raised before the sea had calmed . (L. Don Leet and Florence J. Leet, editors, The World of...)The Hawaiian_Islands are struck severely an average of once every 25 years . (Tom F. Driver, "Beckett by the Madeleine,"...)Once I had a religious emotion . |
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[ adverb ] as soon as
Synonyms Examples "once we are home, we can rest" Used in print (The Dallas Morning News,...)`` Once you get the feel of it , there 's not much to it . (The New York Times,...)A big-league municipal stadium at Flushing_Meadow_Park is in_the_works , and once the lease is signed the local club will be formally recognized by Commissioner_Ford_C._Frick . (Organic Gardening and Farming,...)Once you become an avocado fan , you will look_forward to the season each_year with eager anticipation . (B. J. D. Meeuse, The Story of Pollination....)Once she has made_up_her_mind , the queen starts_out by constructing , in her chosen abode , a small `` floor '' of dried grass or some woolly material . (J. H. Hexter, "Thomas More: On the Margins...)It did not serve to contrast the existing order of society with a possible alternative order , because the age of innocence was not a possible alternative once man had sinned . |
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[ adverb ] at a previous time
Synonyms Examples "once he loved her" "her erstwhile writing" Used in print (Bonnie Prudden, "The Dancer and the Gymnast"...)The apparatus used by gymnasts was once a common sight in American gyms , but about 1930 it was in_favor_of games . (Edward P. Lawton, "Northern Liberals and Southern...)Poor where they had once been rich , humbled where they had been arrogant , having no_longer any hope of sharing_in the leadership of the nation , the rebels who would not surrender in spirit drew comfort from the sympathy they felt extended to them by the mother_country . (Frank Oppenheimer, "Science and Fear-- A Discussion...)We are not now afraid of atomic_bombs in the same way that people once feared comets . They are in_general those fears that once seemed to have been amenable to prayer or ritual . (W. E. B. DuBois, Worlds of Color....)He was a loud-voiced man , once vigorous but for many years now declining in strength and ability . |
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[ adjective ] belonging to some prior time
Examples "erstwhile friend" "our former glory" "the once capital of the state" "her quondam lover" Used in print (David Stacton, The Judges of the Secret Court....)The idea had come from Herold , who had once been a chemist 's clerk . Before Payne loomed the Old_Clubhouse , Seward 's home , where Key had once been killed . (Ann Hebson, The Lattimer Legend....)The thin legs twitched convulsively once , then Kate felt the little body stiffening in her arms and heard one strangled sound . Related terms |
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