How to Use a certain in a Sentence

a certain

idiom
Definition of a certainnext
  • Thus, a certain level of mobility is needed to take stairs and walk the pathways.
    — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 4 Nov. 2024
  • On a date, people are dressed up and act a certain way; maybe being a bit materialistic.
    — Arielle Domb, Vogue, 1 Nov. 2024
  • Preparation could include restriction of eating and drinking for a certain amount of time.
    — Qin Rao, Verywell Health, 1 Nov. 2024
  • At a certain level of execution, sushi is very much an art of marginal differences: the precise angle to which one chef might hone the blade of his knife, or the particular way another vinegars his rice.
    — Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2024
  • Both teams get to come to the rink with a certain amount of freedom, right?
    — Ben Morse, CNN, 24 June 2024
  • But at a certain point, often around 1 in the morning, comes a lull in the marathon.
    — Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024
  • But there’s a certain amount of neo-noir Tokyo 1999 style that was kind of baked into the script.
    — Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Feb. 2024
  • If the child is used to a certain night-light or a sound machine, these can be brought along as well.
    — Ambrosia V. Brody, Parents, 28 Mar. 2024
  • The posters dotting the streets of Buenos Aires had a certain Soviet flare to them.
    — Lucía Cholakian Herrera, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2023
  • There’s one room that smells a certain way that leads into the other room.
    — Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 20 Dec. 2023
  • Perhaps a note-to-self in disguise, but try not to get too attached to a certain brand.
    — Talia Abbas, Vogue, 23 Apr. 2024
  • Ships as large as the Dali must maintain a certain speed to avoid being pushed around by winds and currents.
    — Landon Mion, Fox News, 27 Mar. 2024
  • There’s a certain wistful loveliness in all of that, the mind drifting to what could have been.
    — Michael Bamberger, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2023
  • After a certain amount of time, my body still was not responding to the treatment.
    — Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 4 Sep. 2024
  • Warm weather does not delay the rut any more than a certain moon phase kicks it into gear.
    — Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 25 May 2023
  • And every cook has been trained to cook everything a certain way.
    — Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 26 Jan. 2023
  • While there’s not always a direct cause, it can be caused by excess oils or a certain type of yeast.
    — Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 9 Feb. 2024
  • None of the alerts’ criteria require a person to have been missing for a certain amount of time.
    — Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Cards start players off by making a certain shape, and players have to use their wits to see how the rest of the pieces fit in to complete the puzzle.
    — Rachel Rothman, Good Housekeeping, 18 Aug. 2023
  • The venture was structured as a time share, giving each partner a right to use it a certain number of days.
    — Charlie Savage, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2023
  • Among the big additions to the product are a sleep timer, which will let users set a timer to pause videos after a certain amount of viewing.
    — Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Oct. 2024
  • To be convicted enough to trade to No. 3 means a certain quarterback has to still be on the board, and there's no way of knowing that quite yet.
    — Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Under a treaty from back in the 1940s, Mexico agreed to give a certain amount of water to the Lower Rio Grande region.
    — Olivianna Calmes, Fox News, 28 May 2024
  • If those deposits build up again and hit a certain threshold, patients would start getting the drug again.
    — Alice Park, TIME, 2 July 2024
  • And so that is a good thing because the body needs to be designed in a certain way in order to function properly.
    — quantamagazine.org, 15 Oct. 2024
  • Jonah is sweet and sensitive—the kind of boy that a certain kind of girl dreams of holding in a healing embrace.
    — The New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2024
  • And there’s a certain amount of stakes that come with that and responsibility that comes with that.
    — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2024
  • There might be a particular form that should go with the letter or be in a certain format.
    — Kristen Moon, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
  • Too much policing of stories and being afraid to bring them out because a climate is a certain way is a shame.
    — Zack Sharf, Variety, 3 Sep. 2024
  • Her budding romance with a certain NFL star seemed like all anyone could talk about.
    — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 7 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'a certain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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