Standard Lemma guide

somewhat

adv · noun · pron · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsʌmwɒt/
  • General-American: /ˈsʌmwʌt/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S AH1 M W AH1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: S AH1 M HH W AH1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

To a limited extent or degree; not completely.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • The crowd was somewhat larger than expected, perhaps due to the good weather.
  • The decision to shave or not is a somewhat personal one.
  • The searing heat cooled somewhat as the sun set in the evening.
  • That hat seems somewhat small for him.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: a bit, a touch, only just, acceptably, adequately, averagely, fairly, halfway, in a way, indifferent, mackly, moderately, middlesome, middling, middlingly, not quite, partially, passably, quite, rather, reasonably, somewhat, somewhatly, sufficiently, tolerably, a little, a little bit, a mite, a smidgen, a smidgeon, a tad, a trifle, barely, closely, faintly, hardly, imperceptibly, just, kinda, kinda sorta, kind of, low-key, marginally, mildly, modestly, nearly, scarcely, slightly, sorta, sorta kinda, sort of

Antonyms: absolutely, quite, wholly, totally, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, blind, altogether, at large, at length, cap-a-pie, categorically, completely, detailly, downright, entirely, exhaustively, finally, first and last, flat-out, flat out, from aardvark to zymurgy, from A to Z, from head to toe, from soup to nuts, from stem to stern, from the rooter to the tooter, from top to bottom, from top to toe, fully, handsomely, heartily, head to foot, head to tail, head to toe, hook, line, and sinker, in detail, in full, lock, stock, and barrel, one hundred percent, out-and-out, out and out, outright, particularly, perfectly, plumb, properly, purely, right, root and branch, soundly, soup-to-nuts, straight up, through and through, top to tail, top to toe, totes, to the bone, to the core, to the full, utterly, well and truly, whole, whole cloth

2

adv

Meaning 2

Very.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, not-comparable

Examples

  • That hat seems somewhat small for him.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: a bit, absolutely, ever so, quite, above a bit, sorely, bone, abundantly, all too, but good, completely, damn, eminently, exceedingly, excessively, extremely, flipping, freaking, fucking, greatly, highly, in spades, jolly, main, mightily, murrain, passing, positively, pretty, really, right, simply, somewhat, sore, specially, strongly, swith, truly, vastly, very, very much, way, way too, wicked, wickedly

Antonyms: a touch, only just, scarcely, a bit, a little, a little bit, a mite, a smidgen, a smidgeon, a tad, a trifle, barely, closely, faintly, hardly, imperceptibly, just, kinda, kinda sorta, kind of, low-key, marginally, mildly, modestly, nearly, slightly, somewhat, sorta, sorta kinda, sort of

3

noun

Meaning 3

A certain quantity or degree; a part, more or less; something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A person or thing of importance; a somebody.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • c. 1810-1820, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Troilus and Cressida Pity that the researchful notary has not either told us in what century, and of what history, he was a writer, or been simply content to depose, that Lollius, if a writer of that name existed at all, was a somewhat somewhere.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

pron

Meaning 5

Something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

Examples

  • a. 1716, Robert Trail, sermon on the Lord's Prayer But this text and theme I am upon, relates to somewhat far higher and greater, than all the beholdings of his glory that ever any saint on earth received.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adverb

Meaning 6

to a moderately sufficient extent or degree

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • pretty big
  • pretty bad
  • jolly decent of him
  • the shoes are priced reasonably
  • he is fairly clever with computers

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reasonably, moderately, pretty, jolly, fairly, middling, passably

Antonyms: none provided

7

adverb

Meaning 7

to a small degree or extent

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his arguments were somewhat self-contradictory
  • the children argued because one slice of cake was slightly larger than the other

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: slightly, more or less

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From some + what.

Across languages

Translations

82 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: dalgo — limited extent
  • Asturian: dello — limited extent
  • Basque: samar — limited extent
  • Bulgarian: ма́лко (málko) — limited extent
  • Bulgarian: до изве́стна сте́пен (do izvéstna stépen) — limited extent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多少 — limited extent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有點 /有点 (yǒudiǎn) — limited extent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 幾分 /几分 — limited extent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有些 (yǒuxiē) — limited extent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有所 (yǒusuǒ) — limited extent
  • Czech: poněkud — limited extent
  • Dutch: ietwat — limited extent
  • Dutch: een beetje — limited extent
  • Dutch: enigszins — limited extent
  • Esperanto: iomete — limited extent
  • Finnish: jonkin verran — limited extent
  • Finnish: jossain määrin — limited extent
  • French: assez — limited extent
  • French: quelque peu — limited extent
  • Galician: dalgún xeito — limited extent
  • German: etwas — limited extent
  • German: einigermaßen — limited extent
  • Hungarian: kicsit — limited extent
  • Hungarian: kicsivel — limited extent
  • Hungarian: valamivel — limited extent
  • Hungarian: valamelyest — limited extent
  • Hungarian: kissé — limited extent
  • Hungarian: némileg — limited extent
  • Irish: breis — limited extent
  • Irish: rud beag — limited extent
  • Italian: alquanto — limited extent
  • Italian: piuttosto — limited extent
  • Japanese: 多少 (tashō) — limited extent
  • Japanese: やや (yaya) — limited extent
  • Japanese: ある程度 (aru teido) — limited extent
  • Central Kurdish: نەختێک (nextêk) — limited extent
  • Central Kurdish: کەمێک (kemêk) — limited extent
  • Latin: aliquantum — limited extent
  • Macedonian: донекаде (donekade) — limited extent
  • Māori: hanga — limited extent
  • Māori: āhua — limited extent
  • Navajo: tʼáá yédígo — limited extent
  • Norwegian: noen lunde — limited extent
  • Persian: تا حدی (tâ hadd-i) — limited extent
  • Plautdietsch: eenjemoten — limited extent
  • Polish: trochę — limited extent
  • Polish: nieco — limited extent
  • Polish: dość — limited extent
  • Polish: poniekąd — limited extent
  • Polish: niejako — limited extent
  • Portuguese: um tanto — limited extent
  • Portuguese: meio — limited extent
  • Romanian: întrucâtva — limited extent
  • Russian: не́сколько (néskolʹko) — limited extent
  • Russian: отча́сти (otčásti) — limited extent
  • Russian: в не́которой сте́пени (v nékotoroj stépeni) — limited extent
  • Russian: до не́которой сте́пени (do nékotoroj stépeni) — limited extent
  • Russian: немно́го (nemnógo) — limited extent
  • Scottish Gaelic: leth-char — limited extent
  • Scottish Gaelic: car — limited extent
  • Serbo-Croatian: ponešto — limited extent
  • Serbo-Croatian: donekle — limited extent
  • Lower Sorbian: tšochu — limited extent
  • Spanish: algo — limited extent
  • Spanish: un poco — limited extent
  • Spanish: de algún modo — limited extent
  • Spanish: de alguna manera — limited extent
  • Spanish: en cierto modo — limited extent
  • Spanish: un tanto — limited extent
  • Swedish: något — limited extent
  • Turkish: biraz — limited extent
  • Turkish: bir nebze — limited extent
  • Turkish: bir miktar — limited extent
  • Turkish: bir parça — limited extent
  • Ukrainian: де́що (déščo) — limited extent
  • Ukrainian: пе́вною мі́рою (pévnoju míroju) — limited extent
  • Ukrainian: поча́сти (počásty) — limited extent
  • Vietnamese: hơi — limited extent
  • Volapük: boso — limited extent
  • Welsh: eithaf — limited extent
  • Welsh: rhywfaint — limited extent
  • Yiddish: עפּעס (epes) — limited extent
Real reading context

somewhat in complete knowledge articles