so — English Dictionary

Conjunction

1. As a result; for that reason; therefore; because of this; due to this.

   Examples

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

   He ate too much cake and so he fell ill.

   More examples (3)

   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.

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

   Examples

   So how does this story end?

3. Used to introduce a rhetorical question.

   Examples

   “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.”

4. Provided that; on condition that; as long as.

   Usage

   • Archaic

   Examples

   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.

   More examples (2)

   […] 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.

Adverb

1. To the (explicitly stated) extent.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   It was so hot outside that all the plants died.

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

   More examples (5)

   You behaviour so incensed me that I even thought of firing you.

   It was so cold a day that I could hardly breathe outside.

   So ridiculously did I do in the exam that mom grounded me for a month.

   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.

2. To the (implied) extent.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

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

   More examples (1)

   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.

3. Very (positive or negative clause).

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   I feel so much better now.

   I so nearly lost my temper.

   More examples (2)

   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.

4. Very much.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

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

   More examples (1)

   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.

   More examples (1)

   Yeah! Not eating is so 90’s!

5. Very much. at all (negative clause).

   Usage

   • Informal
   • not-comparable

   Examples

   That is so not true!

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

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   As above, so below.

   More examples (1)

   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."

   He wants to eat now. So does she.

   More examples (4)

   "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

7. Indeed.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   ‘Look, it’s just stopped raining.’ ‘So it has!’

   ‘There are two more.’ ‘So there are.’

8. To such an extent or degree; as.

   Usage

   • not-comparable
   • with as

   Examples

   so far as; so long as; so much as

Adjective

1. Agreeing with actual facts or reality; true.

   Examples

   That is so.

   You are responsible for this, is that not so?

   More examples (2)

   “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.

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

   Examples

   "You're definitely not right about that." "I am so!" (→I am right about that).

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

   More examples (2)

   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.

3. Homosexual.

   Usage

   • UK usage
   • Dated
   • Slang

   Examples

   Is he so?

Interjection

1. 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.

   Synonyms

   lookwellseehey

   Examples

   So, let's go home.

   So, what'll you have?

   More examples (3)

   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.

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

   Examples

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

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

   Examples

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

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

4. Be as you are; stand still; used especially to cows; also used by sailors.

   Usage

   • Archaic

Pronoun

1. That which was previously mentioned; that.

   Usage

   • demonstrative

   Examples

   I'll become a loyal friend and remain so.

   If that's what you really mean, then just say so.

   More examples (2)

   You may need to refer to litigation as a procedure, and when you have done so, you can say a matter is "in litigation".

   "When I went to Venice, I discovered that my dream had become—incredibly but quite simply—my address." So wrote Marcel Proust, capturing the essence of a city where water, light, art, and memory converge.

Noun

1. A syllable used in solfège to represent the fifth note of a major scale.

2. A syllable used in solfège to represent the fifth note of a major scale. Sometimes syllable for both the second and the fifth.

Noun

1. A type of dairy product, made especially in Japan between the seventh and tenth centuries, by reducing milk by boiling it.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Related words

   Another photo of so at Wikicommonsah so

Noun

1. the syllable naming the fifth (dominant) note of any musical scale in solmization

   Synonyms

   solsoh

   Broader terms

   solfa syllable

Adverb

1. to a very great extent or degree

   Examples

   the idea is so obvious

   never been so happy

   More examples (2)

   I love you so

   my head aches so!

2. in a manner that facilitates

   Examples

   he observed the snakes so he could describe their behavior

   he stooped down so he could pick up his hat

3. in such a condition or manner, especially as expressed or implied

   Examples

   They're happy and I hope they will remain so

   so live your life that old age will bring no regrets

4. to a certain unspecified extent or degree

   Examples

   I can only go so far with this student

   can do only so much in a day

5. in the same way; also

   Examples

   I was offended and so was he

   worked hard and so did she

6. in the way indicated

   Synonyms

   thusthusly

   Examples

   hold the brush so

   set up the pieces thus

7. (usually followed by ‘that’) to an extent or degree as expressed

   Examples

   he was so tired he could hardly stand

   so dirty that it smells

8. subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)

   Synonyms

   thenand so

   Examples

   then he left

   go left first, then right

   More examples (3)

   first came lightning, then thunder

   we watched the late movie and then went to bed

   and so home and to bed

9. (used to introduce a logical conclusion) from that fact or reason or as a result

   Synonyms

   thereforehencethencethus

   Examples

   therefore X must be true

   the eggs were fresh and hence satisfactory

   More examples (3)

   we were young and thence optimistic

   it is late and thus we must go

   the witness is biased and so cannot be trusted

10. in truth (often tends to intensify)

    Synonyms

    indeed

    Examples

    they said the car would break down and indeed it did

    it is very cold indeed

    More examples (3)

    was indeed grateful

    indeed, the rain may still come

    he did so do it!