since

• sence (archaic)

From Middle English syns, sinnes, contraction of earlier sithens, sithence, from sithen (“after, since”) ( + -s, adverbial genitive suffix), from Old English sīþþan, from the phrase sīþ þǣm (“after/since that (time)”), from sīþ (“since, after”) + þǣm dative singular of þæt. Cognate with Dutch sinds (“since”), German seit (“since”), Danish siden (“since”), Scots syne (“since”).

• IPA^(key): /sɪn(t)s/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ɪns
• Homophones: sense, cents, scents (some dialects)

since (not comparable)

1. From a specified time in the past.

   I met him last year, but haven't seen him since.

since

1. From: referring to a period of time ending in the present and defining it by the point in time at which it started, or the period in which its starting point occurred.
   1. Continuously during that period of time.

      I have known her since last year.

      • 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:

        Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.

      • 2013 September-October, Simson Garfinkel, “Digital Forensics”, in American Scientist:

        Since the 1980s, computers have had increasing roles in all aspects of human life—including an involvement in criminal acts.

   2. At certain points during that period of time.
      • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:

        "Mujtahidd" has attracted almost 300,000 followers since the end of last year, when he began posting scandalous claims about the Saudi elite.

• until

since

1. From the time that.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter 6:

     He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.

   I have loved you since I first met you.

2. Because.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess‎, chapter 20:

     The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

   Since you didn't call, we left without you.

3. (obsolete) When or that.
   • William Shakespeare

     Do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in St. George's field?

• (from the time that): sithen (obsolete)
• (because): sith (obsolete)

• *nices, censi, escin, icens, nices, scien, snice