Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adverb
- every time; on every occasion; without exception: He always works on Saturday.
- all the time; continuously; uninterruptedly: There is always some pollution in the air.
- forever: Will you always love me?
- in any event; at any time; if necessary: She can always move back with her parents.
adverb
- without exception; on every occasion; every timehe always arrives on time
- continually; repeatedly
- in any caseyou could always take a day off work
- informal for ever; without endour marriage is for always
mid-14c., compound of Old English phrase ealne weg “always, quite, perpetually,” literally “all the way,” with accusative of space or distance, though the oldest recorded usages refer to time. The adverbial genitive -s appeared early 13c. and is now the standard, though the variant alway survived into 1800s. OED speculates allway was originally of space or distance, “but already in the oldest Eng. transferred to an extent of time.”