Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective idiomatic, with noun phrase
accustomed to, tolerant or accepting of. - adverb temporal location
Formerly , once, and habitually or repeatedly, but possibly no longer.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective in the habit
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From used, past of use ("perform habitually") + to ("infinitive marker")
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From used, past participle of use ("to perform habitually") + to
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word used to.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
milosrdenstvi commented on the word used to
This "word" both fascinates and bothers me. In the way, I guess, that every word repeated a million times over sounds weird...but how is it, that "used" + infinitive came to mean the same thing as "formerly" + past tense? I can't figure it out at all. "It had been my use to ...." I guess?
Similar musings, though the connection is clearer, on supposed to meaning "it is a good idea" or "humanity generally does it this way".
These words are used so frequently as idiom that I want to take them out of the language and replace them with yoosta and sposta. That way the obvious etymology won't jump out of everybody's sentences and bother me. Sometimes I use "supposed to" in a way that makes sense with current definitions of "suppose", just because it makes me feel good, but I can't do it with "used to".
August 22, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word used to
Around 1800 you will find this in transitional forms: so-and-so uses to do something, is used to (= is accustomed to). Their usage is to do it. I don't know when the two words fused and it became pronounced with the st.
August 23, 2009
kathleenburns commented on the word used to
Used to in the sense of being accustomed to is very different from its other meaning as past tense of the verb to use. It is so different that I hear it as 'ust to' in the former meaning and as 'used to' in the latter. Is 'ust' worthy of being designated a word by itself?
January 1, 2012