INDEX:
1. on one occasion in the past
RELATED WORDS
at once : ↑ IMMEDIATELY
at once, at the same time : ↑ TIME
once again/once more : ↑ AGAIN
see also
↑ PAST
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1. on one occasion in the past
▷ once /wʌns/ [adverb]
▪ They had met once on holiday, so they knew each other slightly.
▪ She once called me a liar and I’ve never forgiven her.
▪ I remember once it snowed on my birthday, and I was so excited.
▷ one time /ˌwʌn ˌtaɪm/ [adverb] spoken
once :
▪ I remember coming home from school one time and finding we’d been burgled.
▪ One time we went out fishing on the lake at night.
▷ on one occasion /ɒn ˈwʌn əˌkeɪʒ ə n/ [adverb]
use this to give an example of when something you are talking about happened, especially when it is a particularly interesting or extreme example :
▪ On one occasion, she rang his home and a strange woman answered.
▪ She had some pretty frightening experiences. On one occasion her jeep was hijacked by a group of armed soldiers.
▷ at one stage /ət ˈwʌn ˌsteɪdʒ/ [adverb]
at one time during a period of time, process, or event in the past :
▪ I dieted for many years, and at one stage I weighed only 71 kg.
▪ It was a terrible winter. At one stage all the roads to the village were blocked by snow.
▪ At one stage in the match, he was trailing by three games, but he managed to fight back.
▷ at one point /ət ˈwʌn ˌpɔɪnt/ [adverb]
at one time during an activity or period of time in the past :
▪ At one point in the interview, he seemed close to tears.
▪ ‘You play the piano very well,’ I remember Mrs Saito remarking at one point.
▪ I had several narrow escapes during the war, at one point just missing death when my plane was shot down.
▷ one day /ˌwʌn ˈdeɪ/ [adverb]
on a day in the past - use this especially when the exact day does not matter and you are telling the story of what happened :
▪ I was sitting eating my breakfast one day when the telephone rang.
▪ One day when we had nothing else to do, we went down to the river for a swim.
▪ He used to come and go, then one day he went away and never came back.