a certain

phrase

1

—used to refer to a quality that is noticed but that is difficult to explain or describe

She has a certain elegance about her.

The house has a certain charm.

2

formal

—used with the name of a person one does not know

In 1889, a certain Mr. Kelly made a large donation to the church.

Examples of a certain in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Someone explains why a certain food, holiday, accent, routine or even music taste matters. — Benjamin Laker, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026

On a recent video call together, there is a certain gallows humor shared by Lehmann and Waters over the film, which at the time threatened to derail both of their careers. — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026

Another term for a certain kind of planetary alignment, planet parades are what happens when planets line up along the ecliptic in a straight line and appear to us on Earth to be marching across the night sky, according to NASA. — Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 10 July 2026

There’s always a certain portion of people that are averse to change and will take a much longer time to come to the conclusion that this is of value to them. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 9 July 2026

Rhymes for a certain

• uncertain
• bertin
• curtain