Definition of そもそも

そもそもsomosomo

adverbial noun:

  • in the first place; to begin with; from the start; originally; ab initio

conjunction:

  • after all; anyway; actually; well, ...; ... on earth (e.g. "what on earth?"); ... in the world (e.g. "why in the world?") - used when bringing up something already mentioned

noun / ~の noun:

  • beginning; start

Example Sentences

そもそもsomosomo指名手配shimeitehaiされたsaretaだけdakedeha犯人hanninじゃないjanaiですdesu
In any case, just being wanted by the police isn't enough to make you "a criminal."
watashihakareni言い聞かせているiikikaseteirugakarehaそもそもsomosomo聞く耳を持たないkikumimiwomotanai
I've tried reasoning with him but he just won't listen.
そもそもsomosomokarega来たkitaとしたらtoshitara驚きodorokida
If he comes at all, it will be surprising.
そもそもsomosomo責任者sekininshaga責任をとらないsekininwotoranaiならnara存在sonzaiするsuru意味imigaないnaiではないdehanaika
Is there an existing meaning if the person in charge does not take the responsibility to begin with?
そもそもsomosomo事故jikono大半taihanha熱帯雨林nettaiurinではなくdehanaku身近なmijikana場所bashodeおこるokorunoであるdearu
Most accidents, after all, happen around the corner, not in the rainforest.

© Based on JMdict, KANJIDIC2, and JMnedict, property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, used in conformance with the Group's licence. Example sentences from the Tatoeba project (CC BY 2.0). Kanji stroke order data from the KanjiVG project by Ulrich Apel (CC BY-SA 3.0). See comprehensive list of data sources for more info.