once upon a time
idiom
: at some time in the past
He was a famous actor once upon a time.
Note: Once upon a time is the traditional way to begin a fairy tale.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Snow White.
Examples of once upon a time in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And speaking of hardware, Google was supposed to be building a first-party tracking tag once upon a time.
—
Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 5 Apr. 2024
The Ones Who Live is a love story, after all, and once upon a time, Jadis/Anne had a love as well.
—Leah Marilla Thomas, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2024
Volunteer Carroll Hahn traced what happened to the locomotive turntable that existed once upon a time in Keymar.
—Mary Ann Ashcraft, Baltimore Sun, 14 Apr. 2024
In fact, Miami was once upon a time the largest voting station outside Venezuela, and in previous elections more than 20,000 Venezuelans were registered to vote in the Miami consulate.
—Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 10 May 2024
Whereas once upon a time vampy dark shades and glamorous reds were the order of the evening, barely-there pinks and muted flesh tones were about as dramatic as things got at the ceremony, with many celebrities opting for nothing at all.
—Georgia Day, Vogue, 11 Mar. 2024
The presence of liquid water once upon a time points to a balmy environment that could have been habitable.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
The Ravens will have plenty of work to do on their defense this offseason, but Smith and Hamilton are elite building blocks, much as Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were once upon a time.
—Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 29 Jan. 2024
There’s also a guest house on-site, which once upon a time was the original home in 1910.
—Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 1 Feb. 2024
Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 5 Apr. 2024
The Ones Who Live is a love story, after all, and once upon a time, Jadis/Anne had a love as well.
—Leah Marilla Thomas, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2024
Volunteer Carroll Hahn traced what happened to the locomotive turntable that existed once upon a time in Keymar.
—Mary Ann Ashcraft, Baltimore Sun, 14 Apr. 2024
In fact, Miami was once upon a time the largest voting station outside Venezuela, and in previous elections more than 20,000 Venezuelans were registered to vote in the Miami consulate.
—Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 10 May 2024
Whereas once upon a time vampy dark shades and glamorous reds were the order of the evening, barely-there pinks and muted flesh tones were about as dramatic as things got at the ceremony, with many celebrities opting for nothing at all.
—Georgia Day, Vogue, 11 Mar. 2024
The presence of liquid water once upon a time points to a balmy environment that could have been habitable.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
The Ravens will have plenty of work to do on their defense this offseason, but Smith and Hamilton are elite building blocks, much as Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were once upon a time.
—Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 29 Jan. 2024
There’s also a guest house on-site, which once upon a time was the original home in 1910.
—Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 1 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'once upon a time.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near once upon a time
Cite this Entry
“Once upon a time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/once%20upon%20a%20time. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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