somewhat

English

Alternative forms

• (British, dialectical) summat (and variants listed there)

Etymology

some +‎ what

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmwɒt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmwʌt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: some‧what

Adverb

somewhat (not comparable)

1. To a limited extent or degree.

   The crowd was somewhat larger than expected, perhaps due to the good weather.

   The decision to shave or not is a somewhat personal one.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, The Celebrity:

     I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.

Translations

limited extent

• Bulgarian: малко (bg) (málko), до известна степен (do izvéstna stépen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多少 (zh) (duōshǎo), 有點, 有点 (zh) (yǒudiǎn), 幾分 (zh), 几分 (zh) (jǐfēn), 有些 (zh) (yǒuxiē), 有所 (zh) (yǒusuǒ)

• Czech: poněkud
• Dutch: ietwat (nl), een beetje, enigszins (nl)
• Finnish: jonkin verran, jossain määrin
• French: assez (fr), quelque peu (fr)
• German: etwas (de), einigermaßen (de)
• Irish: breis
• Japanese: 多少 (ja) (たしょう, tashō), やや (ja) (yaya), ある程度 (あるていど, aru teido)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نه‌ختێک, که‌مێک

• Macedonian: донекаде (donékade)
• Norwegian: noen lunde
• Polish: trochę (pl), nieco (pl), dość (pl)
• Portuguese: um tanto, meio (pt)
• Romanian: întrucâtva
• Russian: несколько (ru) (néskolʹko), отчасти (ru) (otčasti), в некоторой степени (v nékotoroj stépeni), до некоторой степени (do nékotoroj stépeni), немного (ru) (nemnógo)
• Scottish Gaelic: leth-char, car
• Serbo-Croatian: ponešto, donekle
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tšochu

• Spanish: algo (es), un poco
• Turkish: biraz (tr), bir nebze (tr), bir miktar, bir parça (tr)
• Volapük: boso (vo)
• Yiddish: עפּעס (epes)

See also

• slightly

Pronoun

somewhat

1. (now archaic) Something.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:

     Proceeding to the midst he stil did stand, / As if in minde he somewhat had to say […].

   • Robert Trail

     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.

Translations

something — see something

Noun

somewhat (plural somewhats)

1. More or less; a certain quantity or degree; a part, more or less; something.
   • Grew

     These salts have somewhat of a nitrous taste.

   • Dryden

     Somewhat of his good sense will suffer, in this transfusion, and much of the beauty of his thoughts will be lost.

2. A person or thing of importance; a somebody.
   • Tennyson

     Here come those that worship me. / They think that I am somewhat.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: remain · covered · born · #718: somewhat · figure · goes · youth