Adverb

(-)

On certain occasions, or in certain circumstances, but not always.

* (Jeremy Taylor)

It is good that we sometimes be contradicted.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}

(obsolete) On a certain occasion in the past; once.

* (William Shakespeare)

That fair and warlike form / In which the majesty of buried Denmark / Did sometimes march.

* :

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

*, II.3.7:

they detract, scoffe, and raile (saith one), and bark at me on every side; but I, like that Albanian dog sometimes given to Alexander for a present, vindico me ab illis solo contemptu ; I lie still, and sleep, vindicate myself by contempt alone.

Adverb

(-)

At no time; on no occasion; in no circumstance.

* 1634 , (w), (John Fletcher), , Act 2, Scene 4,

Why should I love this Gentleman? Tis odds / He never will affect me;

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}

* 1908 , (Lucy Maud Montgomery), , Chapter XXI: A New Departure in Flavorings,

"I never thought you were so fond of Mr. Phillips that you'd require two handkerchiefs to dry your tears just because he was going away," said Marilla.

* 1919 , B. G. Jefferis, J. L. Nichols, ,

Never speak of the symptoms of your patient in his presence, unless questioned by the doctor, whose orders you are always to obey implicitly .

Not at any other time; not on any other occasion; not previously.

* 1601 Novenber 30, (Elizabeth I of England), ,

There is no jewel, be it of never so rich a price, which I set before this jewel: I mean your love.

* 1813 , (Jane Austen), , Chapter 4,

"He is just what a young man ought to be," said she, "sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!--so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!"

* 1908 , (Lucy Maud Montgomery), , Chapter XIII: The Delights of Anticipation,

I never saw such an infatuated man.

(colloquial) Negative particle (used to negate verbs in the simple past tense; also used absolutely ).