Idiom
used to
grammar point
Meaning
Two everyday senses. As a past marker (used to + verb): something that happened regularly, or was true, in the past but isn't now — "We used to live by the sea." After be or get (be/get used to + noun or -ing): accustomed to, or comfortable with, something — "I'm used to the noise now."
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“I am used to the noise in this city.”
“I used to play the guitar every day when I was a student.”
“She moved to a cold country, but she is finally used to the freezing winter weather.”
“My grandfather used to work as a baker, so he still wakes up before the sun rises every single morning.”
“After living in the desert for five years, he is finally getting used to the extreme heat during the summer months.”
“Although the transition to a remote working environment was initially jarring, the staff eventually became used to the lack of daily face-to-face interaction.”
Examples
simple
“I am used to the noise in this city.”
“I used to play the guitar every day when I was a student.”
contextual
“She moved to a cold country, but she is finally used to the freezing winter weather.”
“My grandfather used to work as a baker, so he still wakes up before the sun rises every single morning.”
“After living in the desert for five years, he is finally getting used to the extreme heat during the summer months.”
complex
“Although the transition to a remote working environment was initially jarring, the staff eventually became used to the lack of daily face-to-face interaction.”
Origin
From *used*, the past tense of the verb *use*, which held the archaic sense of being in the habit of performing an action, combined with the infinitive marker *to*.
Key words
Related idioms
Grammar
- Updated