Dictionary

for once en · ADP

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) For the first time, after many instances to the contrary; in a rare exception to the rule; as an exception to the usual.
   • For once I would have taken him up upon his insulting wager. 1841, Edgar Allan Poe, Never Bet the Devil Your Head:
   • For once in my life / I found someone who makes me smile / Everything I do is just for pleasin' you / Only thing that seems worth while 1983, Lakeside, “Real Love”, in Untouchables:
   • The invitation for the next evening was accepted, and Cecilia, for once, felt no repugnance to joining the company. 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress:
   • Sell her her waste, please, and give her good measure if you can make up your mind to do the liberal thing for once. 1865, Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend:
   • For once in my life, I have someone who needs me / Someone I've needed so long / For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me / Somehow, I know I'll be strong 1968, Stevie Wonder, “Stevie Wonder”, in For Once in My Life:
   • For once in her life she was surprised out of her reserve; she caught her girl in her arms and crushed her and her flowers against her heart, kissing the bright hair and sweet face warmly. 1915, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of the Island:
   • In France, in Germany, in Austro-Hungary, in Italy, in the United States, writers of all shades of opinion, for once unanimous, have paid a willing tribute to the worth of our great countryman, ignored in life by the official representatives of the kingdom, but laid in death among his peers in Westminster Abbey by the will of the intelligence of the nation. 1882 April 27, “The Funeral Of Mr. Darwin”, in The Times:

Synonyms

for a change

Translations (21)

fr pour une fois (in a rare exception to the rule) · fi kerrankin (for the first time) · de wenigstens einmal (in a rare exception to the rule) · cmn 難得 /难得 (in a rare exception to the rule) · pl dla odmiany (in a rare exception to the rule) · cmn 破天荒 (in a rare exception to the rule) · pl na odmianę (in a rare exception to the rule) · fo fyri eina ferð skyld (in a rare exception to the rule) · ru в ко́и-то ве́ки (in a rare exception to the rule) · ka ამჯერად (for the first time) · it una volta tanto (in a rare exception to the rule) · de wenigstens ein einziges Mal (in a rare exception to the rule) · it per una volta (in a rare exception to the rule) · hu most az egyszer (in a rare exception to the rule) · fi kerrankin (in a rare exception to the rule) · sv för en gångs skull (in a rare exception to the rule) · ru на э́тот раз (in a rare exception to the rule) · pl chociaż raz (for the first time) · eo por unufoje (in a rare exception to the rule) · hu ez egyszer (in a rare exception to the rule) · cmn 破天荒 (for the first time)