Word definition: since

Etimology

From Middle English syns, synnes, contraction of earlier sithens, sithence, from sithen (“after, since”) ( + -s, adverbial genitive suffix), from Old English sīþþan, from the phrase sīþ þǣm (“after/since that (time)”), from sīþ (“since, after”) + þǣm dative singular of þæt. Cognate with Dutch sinds (“since”), German seit (“since”), Danish siden (“since”), Icelandic síðan (“since”) Scots syne (“since”).

adverb

Examples

I met him last year, but haven't seen him since.

A short/long time since

preposition

Examples

I have known her since last year.

Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.

Since the 1980s, computers have had increasing roles in all aspects of human life—including an involvement in criminal acts.

"Mujtahidd" has attracted almost 300,000 followers since the end of last year, when he began posting scandalous claims about the Saudi elite.

Related words

conjunction

Examples

I have loved you since I first met you.

He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.

Since you didn't call, we left without you.

The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

Since disbursement is the last step in the process of creating a mortgage instrument, the disbursement date may lag the transaction date by a considerable period.

O ſir Iohn, doe you remember ſince wee lay all night in the Winde-mill, in S Georges field.

Related words