since

• sence (archaic)

From Middle English syns, synnes, 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”), Icelandic síðan (“since”) Scots syne (“since”).

• IPA^(key): /sɪns/

• Audio (US)

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

since (not comparable)

1. From a specified time in the past.

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

   A short/long time since

• ever 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.

   I have loved you since I first met you.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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.

2. Because.

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

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:

     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.

   • 1970, Jack M. Guttentag, “New Series on Home Mortgage Yields Since 1951, Volume 92”, in National Bureau of Economic Research, page 132:

     Since disbursement is the last step in the process of creating a mortgage instrument, the disbursement date may lag the transaction date by a considerable period.

3. (obsolete) When or that.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 87, column 2:

     O ſir Iohn, doe you remember ſince wee lay all night in the Winde-mill, in S Georges field.

• (from the time that): sithen (obsolete); see also Thesaurus:since
• (because): sith (obsolete); see also Thesaurus:because

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