How to Use a certain in a Sentence

a certain

idiom
  • That feature also comes in handy when trying to find a certain item in your bag.
    Rachel Trujillo, Travel + Leisure, 1 Dec. 2024
  • For instance, a certain word, tone of voice, or even time of day can be a trigger when someone is not equipped to handle conflict.
    Lauryn Higgins, Parents, 2 Dec. 2024
  • This nightstand has a touch of Regency style, with a shellacked finish that gives it a certain polish.
    Erika Owen, Architectural Digest, 2 Dec. 2024
  • Creators can set clear limits upfront, such as including a certain amount of rounds of reshoots edits in the base rate and charging extra beyond that.
    Kristen Bousquet, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024
  • Athletic directors target a certain strength of schedule.
    Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
  • Both teams get to come to the rink with a certain amount of freedom, right?
    Ben Morse, CNN, 24 June 2024
  • But at a certain point, often around 1 in the morning, comes a lull in the marathon.
    Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024
  • But there’s a certain amount of neo-noir Tokyo 1999 style that was kind of baked into the script.
    Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Feb. 2024
  • If the child is used to a certain night-light or a sound machine, these can be brought along as well.
    Ambrosia V. Brody, Parents, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Does this mean that LaPaglia couldn’t talk about Bryan for a certain amount of time?
    Claudia Rosenbaum, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
  • The posters dotting the streets of Buenos Aires had a certain Soviet flare to them.
    Lucía Cholakian Herrera, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2023
  • There’s one room that smells a certain way that leads into the other room.
    Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 20 Dec. 2023
  • Perhaps a note-to-self in disguise, but try not to get too attached to a certain brand.
    Talia Abbas, Vogue, 23 Apr. 2024
  • Denver had the game on his foot — and in the care of the field goal protection group — and saw a certain win vanish in a flash of red.
    Parker Gabriel, The Denver Post, 10 Nov. 2024
  • Ships as large as the Dali must maintain a certain speed to avoid being pushed around by winds and currents.
    Landon Mion, Fox News, 27 Mar. 2024
  • There’s a certain wistful loveliness in all of that, the mind drifting to what could have been.
    Michael Bamberger, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2023
  • After a certain amount of time, my body still was not responding to the treatment.
    Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 4 Sep. 2024
  • Warm weather does not delay the rut any more than a certain moon phase kicks it into gear.
    Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 25 May 2023
  • And every cook has been trained to cook everything a certain way.
    Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 26 Jan. 2023
  • While there’s not always a direct cause, it can be caused by excess oils or a certain type of yeast.
    Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 9 Feb. 2024
  • None of the alerts’ criteria require a person to have been missing for a certain amount of time.
    Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Cards start players off by making a certain shape, and players have to use their wits to see how the rest of the pieces fit in to complete the puzzle.
    Rachel Rothman, Good Housekeeping, 18 Aug. 2023
  • The venture was structured as a time share, giving each partner a right to use it a certain number of days.
    Charlie Savage, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2023
  • Among the big additions to the product are a sleep timer, which will let users set a timer to pause videos after a certain amount of viewing.
    Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Oct. 2024
  • To be convicted enough to trade to No. 3 means a certain quarterback has to still be on the board, and there's no way of knowing that quite yet.
    Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Under a treaty from back in the 1940s, Mexico agreed to give a certain amount of water to the Lower Rio Grande region.
    Olivianna Calmes, Fox News, 28 May 2024
  • If those deposits build up again and hit a certain threshold, patients would start getting the drug again.
    Alice Park, TIME, 2 July 2024
  • And so that is a good thing because the body needs to be designed in a certain way in order to function properly.
    quantamagazine.org, 15 Oct. 2024
  • Jonah is sweet and sensitive—the kind of boy that a certain kind of girl dreams of holding in a healing embrace.
    The New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2024
  • And there’s a certain amount of stakes that come with that and responsibility that comes with that.
    Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'a certain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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