always

alternative obsolete alwayes · alternative obsolete alwayz · alternative obsolete alwayez · alternative pronunciation spelling allus

1. not comparableAt all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.

   God is always the same.

   3 more examples

   Green has always been my favorite color. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.

   Airplanes did not always exist as a form of transportation.

   Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

   2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

   Synonyms: perpetually, continually, all the time, every time, 5ever, ad infinitum, all the time, aye · Antonyms: at no time, never, at latter Lammas, at no time, in the reign of Queen Dick, ne'er, never, never ever

2. not comparableConstantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals (opposed to sometimes or occasionally).

   In this street, the shops always close during lunchtime.

   5 more examples

   His liveries are black,—his carriage is black,—he always rides a black galloway,—and, faith, if he ever marry again, I think he will show his respect to the sainted Maria by marrying a black woman.

   1840, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Money

   They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

   1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC

   And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations has waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay,[…].

   1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

   The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   She used to always talk about how she wished she had time to write all day, but now she had the time, she never even went near the typewriter.

   1981 February 14, Andrea Loewenstein, “Voices in the Night”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 8

   Synonyms: invariably, uniformly, consistently, constantly, immutably, invariably, invariously, still · Antonyms: manywise, sundrily, variously, diversely, manywise, sundrily, variously

3. informalnot comparableif necessary, or if there is no better option; in any event.

   I thought I could always go back to work.

   Synonyms: anyhow, anyway, at any rate, regardless, after all, algate, any road up, anyhoo

alternative obsolete alwayes · alternative obsolete alwayz · alternative obsolete alwayez · alternative pronunciation spelling allus