Word definition: so

Etimology


From Middle English so, swo, zuo, swa, swe, from Old English swā, swǣ, swē (“so, as, the same, such, that”), from Proto-West Germanic *swā, from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē (“so”), from Proto-Indo-European *swē, *swō (reflexive pronomial stem). Cognate with Scots sae (“so”), West Frisian sa (“so”), Low German so (“so”), Dutch zo (“so”), German so (“so”), Danish så (“so”), Norwegian Nynorsk so, Swedish så ("so, such that"), Old Latin suad (“so”), Albanian sa (“how much, so, as”), Ancient Greek ὡς (hōs, “as”), Urdu سو (sō, “hence”).

conjunction


so

Reduced form of 'so that', used to express purpose; in order that.

With the result that; for that reason; therefore.

Used to connect previous conversation or events to the following question.

Used to introduce a rhetorical question.

(archaic) Provided that; on condition that, as long as.

Examples


I got an earlier train to work so I'd have plenty of time to prepare for the meeting.

Eat your broccoli so you can have dessert.

I was hungry, so I asked if there was any more food.

He ate too much cake, so he fell ill.

He wanted a book, so he went to the library.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” ― “So go!”

Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.

So how does this story end?

“We'd like to visit but I don't know if we can afford a hotel.” — “So who's staying in a hotel? Stay with us.”

Speed. ‘Item: She doth talk in her sleep.’Launce. It’s no matter for that, so she sleep not in her talk.

As we cal money not onely that which is true and good, but also the false; so it be currant.

[…] though all the windes of doctrin were let loose play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licencing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength.

I went away very well satisfy’d, not caring where I was sent, so it was but out of his Sight; for he now became more my Aversion than ever.

Related words


synonyms

(in order that): so that, that

adverb


so (not comparable)

To the (explicitly stated) extent that.

To the (implied) extent.

Very (positive or negative clause).

Very much.

In a particular manner.

In the same manner or to the same extent as aforementioned; likewise, also.

(with as): To such an extent or degree; as.

Examples


It was so hot outside that all the plants died.

He was so good, they hired him on the spot.

Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.

I need a piece of cloth so long. [= this long]

There are only so many hours in a day.

We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.

I feel so much better now.

I so nearly lost my temper.

It’s not so bad. [i.e. it's acceptable]

Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

But I so want to see the Queen when she visits our town!

Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust.

I so wanted to be Jess Harley again.

Yeah! Not eating is so 90’s!

That is so not true!

Place the napkin on the table just so. If that's what you mean, then say so; .

Don′t know what it is that makes me love you so, / I only know I never want to let you go.

Just as you have the right to your free speech, so I have the right to mine.  Many people say she's the world's greatest athlete, but I don't think so.  "I can count backwards from one hundred." "So can I."

‘There're another two.’ ‘So there are.’

He wants to eat now. So does she.

"Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn." ¶ "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"

The work thus done has probably been of the greatest value to the human race; but, just as in other cases it has sometimes happened that the effort to do a certain work has resulted in the end in an unbalanced exaggeration so here.

It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.

it's okay to be different'Cause baby, so am I

so far as;  so long as;  so much as

Related words


synonyms

(very): really, truly, that, very

(to a particular extent): that, this, yea

(in a particular manner): like this, thus

(slang: very much): really, truly, very much

adjective


so (comparative more so, superlative most so)

As what was or will be mentioned.

In that state or manner; with that attribute. A proadjective that replaces the aforementioned adjective phrase.

(dated, UK, slang) Homosexual.

Examples


That is so.

You are responsible for this, is that not so?

“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

The details of her own life crowded out everything else; almost every time I saw Min, she had something new to tell me. It sometimes felt as if the laws of the physical world did not apply to her, that she had only to think of something — a job switch, a breakup — to make it so. If I didn’t see her for a while, she might forget to tell me that she had quit a factory or gotten a raise, because in her mind she had already moved on.

If this separation was painful to all parties, it was most so to Martha.

But if I had been more fit to be married, I might have made you more so too.

It must be understood that while the nelumbiums are hardy, they are so only as long as the tubers are out of the reach of frost.

Is he so?

Related words


synonyms

(true): correct, right, true

(euphemistic: homosexual): musical, one of the family, one of them, that way inclined

interjection


so

Used after a pause for thought to introduce a new topic, question or story, or a new thought or question in continuation of an existing topic.

Used as a question to ask for further explanation of something said, often rhetorically or in a dismissive or impolite manner.

Used as a meaningless filler word to begin a response to a question.

(archaic) Be as you are; stand still; used especially to cows; also used by sailors.

Examples


Synonyms: look, well, see, hey

So, let's go home.

So, what'll you have?

So, there was this squirrel stuck in the chimney...

So, everyone wants to know – did you win the contest or not?

So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.

"You park your car in front of my house every morning." — "So?"

What are you doing? / So I'm just fixing this shelf.

What time does the train leave? / So it leaves at 10 o'clock.

pronoun


so

Abbreviation of someone.

Related words


synonyms

sb (“somebody”)

Etimology


Shortened from sol, to make it an open syllable for uniformity with the rest of the scale.

noun


so (plural sos)

(music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the fifth note of a major scale.

Etimology


Borrowed from Japanese 蘇 (so).

noun


so (uncountable)

(foods) A type of dairy product, made especially in Japan between the seventh and 10th centuries, by reducing milk by boiling it.

Data provided by Wiktionary