used to
Britishadjective
verb
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Accustomed or habituated to. This expression is often put as , as in I'm not used to driving a manual-shift car , or She can't get used to calling him Dad . [Early 1500s]
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Formerly. This sense is used with a following verb to indicate a past state, as in I used to ride my bicycle to the post office , or This used to be the best restaurant in town . [Late 1800s]
Usage
The most common negative form of used to is didn't used to (or didn't use to ), but in formal contexts used not to is preferred
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Car buyers used to be able to travel to a factory and pick up a vehicle directly from a manufacturer, negating the shipping costs.
While deepfake videos are becoming more sophisticated, so are the tools used to thwart them.
From BBC
The 2026 Formula 1 season is almost here and there are plenty of changes for fans to get used to at the first race in Australia.
From BBC
AI is being used to put players into real-life scenarios, as well as those more obviously fake.
From BBC
"It's just he's not the same child as he used to be," he said.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
