formerly

adverb

for·​mer·​ly ˈfȯr-mər-lē 

ˈfȯr-mə-

1

: at an earlier time : previously

Istanbul was formerly known as Constantinople.

2

obsolete : just before

Synonyms of formerly

• once

Examples of formerly in a Sentence

He was formerly a congressman.

the newspaper formerly known as “The Newsprint”

Recent Examples on the Web

Snap, the parent company that owns Snapchat, led the pack along with X, formerly known as Twitter, and Microsoft. — Lisa Hagen, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026

Superhuman, the productivity company formerly known as Grammarly, agreed in June to acquire GPTZero for undisclosed terms. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026

Tramell Tillman is an American actor best known for playing the turtleneck-wearing, exceedingly loquacious supervisor Seth Milchick on the award-winning Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+) dystopian sci-fi thriller Severance (2022– ). — Laura Payne, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Oct. 2026

The space was formerly home to the Conran store and most recently housed a Zara Home pop-up, as reported. — Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

formerly

adverb

for·​mer·​ly ˈfȯr-mər-lē 

: at an earlier time : previously