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once

Syllabification: (once)
Pronunciation: /wəns/

Translate once | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of once

adverb

  • 1on one occasion or for one time only:they deliver once a week
  • (usually with negative or if) at all; on even one occasion (used for emphasis):he never once complained if she once got an idea in her head you’d never move it
  • 2at some time in the past; formerly:He had once been an Army officer

conjunction

  • as soon as; when:once the grapes were pressed, the juice was put into barrels

Phrases

all at once

  • 1without warning; suddenly:all at once the noise stopped
  • 2all at the same time:scared and excited all at once

at once

  • 1immediately:I fell asleep at once
  • 2simultaneously:computers that can do many things at once

for once (or this once)

on this occasion only, as an exception:He was glad that for once he had not listened

once a ——, always a ——

proverb a person cannot change their fundamental nature:once a whiner, always a whiner

once again (or more)

one more time.

once and for all (or once for all)

now and for the last time; finally.

once and future

denoting someone or something that is eternal, enduring, or constant.
[ 1950s: from T. H. White's Once and Future King (1958)]

once bitten, twice shy

see bite.

once (or every once) in a while

from time to time; occasionally.

once or twice

a few times.

once upon a time

at some time in the past (used as a conventional opening of a story).
formerly:once upon a time she would have been jealous, but no longer

Origin:

Middle English ones, genitive of one. The spelling change in the 16th century was in order to retain the unvoiced sound of the final consonant

once in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of once in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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