1 on one occasion only; one time:
I've only been there once. * He cleans his car once a week. * She only sees her parents once every six months. * (informal) He only did it the once.
2 at some time in the past:
I once met your mother. * He once lived in Zambia. * This book was famous once, but nobody reads it today.
3 used in negative sentences and questions, and after if to mean 'ever' or 'at all':
He never once offered to help. * If she once decides to do something, you won't change her mind.
IDIOMS
all at once
1 suddenly:
All at once she lost her temper.
2 all together; at the same time:
I can't do everything all at once-you'll have to be patient.
at once
1 immediately; without delay:
Come here at once!
2 at the same time:
Don't all speak at once! * I can't do two things at once.
(just) for once
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for once is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is once a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, once is tagged as adverb.
Does once appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — once appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
