adj.
Pronunciation: ' s ə m, ˌ s ə m
Function: adverb
Date: before 12th century
1 : ABOUT < some 80 houses> <twenty- some people>
2 a : in some degree : SOMEWHAT <felt some better> b : to some degree or extent : a little <the cut bled some > <I need to work on it some more> c ― used as a mild intensive <that's going some >
usage When some is used to modify a number, it is almost always a round number <a community of some 150,000 inhabitants> but because some is slightly more emphatic than about or approximately it is occas. used with a more exact number in an intensive function <an expert parachutist, he has some 115 jumps to his credit ― Current Biog. >. When some is used without a number, most commentators feel that somewhat is to be preferred. Their advice is an oversimplification, however; only when some modifies an adjective, usually a comparative, will somewhat always substitute smoothly. When some modifies a verb or adverb, and especially when it follows a verb, substitution of somewhat may prove awkward <Italy forced me to grow up some ― E. W. Brooke> <I'm not a prude; I've been around some in my day ― Roy Rogers> <here in Newport, both Southern Cross and Courageous practiced some more ― W. N. Wallace>.