different between Somehow vs in_a_way

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?mha?/

Adverb

somehow (not comparable)

1. In one way or another; in a way not yet known or explained; by some means
   • December 1, 2016, Tom Donaghy writing in The New York Times, Tender Side of Edward Albee

     It’s not by accident Edward wrote “The Goat,” “The Zoo Story” or “Seascape,” with its two lizards, Sarah and Leslie. In fact, in all of his plays the animal is pretty prominent, somehow or other.

   • Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.

   • 1895, William Dean Howells, Mortality

     Have I not loathed to live again and said
     It would have been far better to be dead,
     And yet somehow, I know not why,
     Remained afraid to die!

Usage notes

The indefiniteness of somehow is emphasized by the addition of or other, or another or or the other.

Synonyms

• somewise
• someway

Translations

English

Prepositional phrase

in a way

1. To a certain degree, or in a certain sense.
   • 2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophe[1], National Geographic

     As an adult, I became a journalist whose beat is the environment. In a way, I’ve turned my youthful preoccupations into a profession.

Translations

See also

• in the way
• once in a way