How to Use once upon a time in a Sentence

once upon a time

idiom

• There’s also a guest house on-site, which once upon a time was the original home in 1910.
  — Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 1 Feb. 2024
• These were two men who once upon a time were firmly aligned in their outlook.
  — Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 18 July 2024
• Anacapri: Smaller, and, once upon a time quieter Anacapri is reached by bus or taxi from Capri.
  — Elizabeth Heath, Travel + Leisure, 13 July 2024
• The beloved toy store chain, which closed its last remaining stores in 2021, was once upon a time a mall staple.
  — Brittany Natale, Woman's Day, 20 June 2023
• What’s funny is that once upon a time, hose were a symbol of freedom.
  — Laia Garcia-Furtado, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2023
• George Washington had been named once upon a time by the British Empire.
  — NBC News, 25 Dec. 2022
• Will went on to say that, once upon a time, boxing was very popular.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 4 Jan. 2023
• His father, tearing the team a set of new ones in the locker-room, once upon a time made one player stand in the corner like a child.
  — Bart Bull, SPIN, 10 Feb. 2023
• Coming to Cleveland is Noah Syndergaard, who once upon a time was a phenom with the Mets.
  — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 27 July 2023
• Foreign content was a niche business once upon a time, but not since Squid Game and Berlin Babylon.
  — Vulture, 2 May 2023
• Because once upon a time, Gracie was a married 36-year-old mother who worked at a pet store.
  — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 29 Nov. 2023
• Yes, once upon a time—in 2014, to be exact—Ben Affleck was caught holding…Starbucks.
  — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 7 Nov. 2023
• Riseborough plays Leslie, who, once upon a time, was the toast of the town after winning a lottery jackpot.
  — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 2 Feb. 2023
• MySpace was the world-beating social network once upon a time.
  — PCMAG, 9 Feb. 2023
• And speaking of hardware, Google was supposed to be building a first-party tracking tag once upon a time.
  — Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 5 Apr. 2024
• The streaming company has long been aware that its subscribers share passwords and once upon a time encouraged it.
  — Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 10 Aug. 2023
• But what Mainers will absolutely agree on is that this area that once upon a time truly shut down for the winter months simply doesn't any more.
  — Todd Plummer, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Jan. 2024
• The eradication of child labor was something Americans could be proud of, once upon a time.
  — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2023
• The presence of liquid water once upon a time points to a balmy environment that could have been habitable.
  — Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
• Not only super dark given the August heat in NYC, but technically…once upon a time at least…navy blue with black was verboten.
  — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 23 Aug. 2023
• But once upon a time, Hailey was a Jelena fan, some pointed out, and a longtime, passionate Belieber.
  — Alyssa Bailey, ELLE, 3 Mar. 2023
• Where once upon a time, the experts may have been oblivious to the nature of Philomena and the show, Brooker has acknowledged that Morgan’s been doing it so long that everyone is in on the joke.
  — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2023
• The Bruins coveted defenseman Sergei Gonchar (left) once upon a time.
  — Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Mar. 2023
• That’s not unprecedented, of course: Max includes access to HBO, which once upon a time was also only available via cable.
  — Vulture, 19 Sep. 2023
• Something like that would have been Republican boilerplate, once upon a time.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 16 Oct. 2023
• The demon, of course, merely illustrates a thesis that can be stated in more sombre terms: everything that happens is the inevitable consequence of the laws of nature and what the universe was like once upon a time.
  — Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023
• Young people would be shocked at how much emphasis Republicans and conservatives placed on virtue, once upon a time.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 12 May 2023
• Volunteer Carroll Hahn traced what happened to the locomotive turntable that existed once upon a time in Keymar.
  — Mary Ann Ashcraft, Baltimore Sun, 14 Apr. 2024
• Whereas once upon a time vampy dark shades and glamorous reds were the order of the evening, barely-there pinks and muted flesh tones were about as dramatic as things got at the ceremony, with many celebrities opting for nothing at all.
  — Georgia Day, Vogue, 11 Mar. 2024
• Gregory, meanwhile, headed Island Creek Oysters once upon a time.
  — Kara Baskin, BostonGlobe.com, 17 May 2023

Last Updated: 14 Dec 2024