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

In other words, the formerly sizzling metros have gone cold, and the unsexy plodders are back in vogue. —Shawn Tully, Fortune, 11 Apr. 2026

Caroline Ponseti, who leads communications for Kindbridge, formerly worked alongside current Kalshi head of corporate development Sara Slane at the American Gaming Association, one of the main lobbying groups of the gambling industry. —Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 10 Apr. 2026

The way Jassy tells it, though, Amazon Leo ( formerly Project Kuiper ) has the chance to be a lucrative business for the company, benefiting both the e-commerce side of things and AWS. —Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 9 Apr. 2026

Meta’s answer to X, formerly Twitter — about the bizarre ordeal. —Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 9 Apr. 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