: familiar with something so that it seems normal or usual
I'm not used to driving this car yet.
He is used to criticism.
The dog will need a few days to become used to its new home.
She quickly got used to the warm weather.
1
—used to say a situation existed in the past but does not exist now
My grandmother said winters used to be harder here.
2
—used to say something happened repeatedly in the past but does not happen now
We used to go out more often.
They used to eat a lot of junk food but now they only eat healthy foods.
Examples of used to in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 8 May 2026
In recent years, these programs have been used to process a huge volume of data far more proficiently and efficiently than scientists can manage alone.
—Quanta Magazine, 8 May 2026
The steel beams will be used to build the cryostats.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 8 May 2026
At the Koppel plant, an electric arc furnace is used to turn scrap metal into liquid steel.
—Ricky Sayer, CBS News, 8 May 2026
And this entity takes the tragedy as seriously as the video game – the game that the dead kid used to play and that her sister is playing now.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2026
Pro-school choice Democrats maintain that some of the dollars that do not go toward private school tuition can be used to benefit local public schools.
—Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 8 May 2026
In the meantime, Americans will have to get used to higher grocery bills.
—Wes Zebrowski, Chicago Tribune, 8 May 2026
The dedicated biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha previously was used to treat Ebola patients and some of the first COVID-19 patients.
—Suman Naishadham, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Verb
After Sol the Trophy Tomato gained a following on social media, fans created a meme coin that now has a market value of $1 million and is funding DeVido’s effort to build out an autonomous farming system controlled by AI that could be used to grow food at scale.
—Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 8 May 2026
In recent years, these programs have been used to process a huge volume of data far more proficiently and efficiently than scientists can manage alone.
—Quanta Magazine, 8 May 2026
The steel beams will be used to build the cryostats.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 8 May 2026
At the Koppel plant, an electric arc furnace is used to turn scrap metal into liquid steel.
—Ricky Sayer, CBS News, 8 May 2026
And this entity takes the tragedy as seriously as the video game – the game that the dead kid used to play and that her sister is playing now.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2026
Pro-school choice Democrats maintain that some of the dollars that do not go toward private school tuition can be used to benefit local public schools.
—Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 8 May 2026
In the meantime, Americans will have to get used to higher grocery bills.
—Wes Zebrowski, Chicago Tribune, 8 May 2026
The dedicated biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha previously was used to treat Ebola patients and some of the first COVID-19 patients.
—Suman Naishadham, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Used to.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/used%20to. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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