How to Use heretofore in a Sentence

heretofore

adverb
  • Heretofore her writing has never displayed such depth of feeling.
  • This technology has created heretofore unimaginable possibilities.
  • For the right team, one of these heretofore anonymous arms surely will be the piece that turns a good team into a great one.
    — John Shipley, Twin Cities, 10 July 2019
  • Even the heretofore more solitary arts now bend toward the communal.
    — New York Times, 13 Oct. 2021
  • The world is in crisis, beset by challenges heretofore unseen.
    — Dan Snierson, EW.com, 15 May 2020
  • Having weathered so many punches heretofore, the viewer is more likely to be numb than moved.
    — Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
  • And, just like that, the audience gets to see a side of Ellie heretofore rarely revealed.
    — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 31 Mar. 2025
  • Carolyn has only had 11 seconds of her voice being heard on air heretofore.
    — Rachel Burchfield, Forbes.com, 22 June 2025
  • Republicans have heretofore been caught in a trap with regard to Trump’s election lies.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 10 Aug. 2023
  • No, a third, the heretofore unknown offspring of a youth spent in drunken philandering.
    — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • Not bad for a 19-minute set from a heretofore underrated and unheard-of comic.
    — Jason Johnson, The Root, 4 May 2018
  • Men and women who heretofore have jeered such exhibitions of brawn and muscle were eager to see the contest.
    — al, 22 Nov. 2021
  • There will be an immense inspection of the self-driving cars arena in a manner that heretofore has not taken place.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2021
  • The first thing that strikes you about this new piece of technology is the color, black, a hue heretofore absent from the toothbrush realms.
    — Sam Dangremond, Town & Country, 12 Nov. 2013
  • Thor then learns his heretofore unknown sister, Hela, the goddess of death, plans to take over Asgard.
    — Chuck Yarborough, cleveland.com, 31 Oct. 2017
  • The cramped two rooms sit on the museum’s top floor, giving a glimpse into the lives of a migrant group heretofore unseen on its premises.
    — Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Sep. 2023
  • Suddenly the Knicks, who hadn’t won the big title in fifty-three years, can turn on some heretofore unseen mode of heroism, and—bang.
    — Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 18 June 2026
  • Now, though, the heretofore casual piece has received a big-night-out makeover thanks to Bella Hadid.
    — Alexandra Gurvitch, Vogue, 23 May 2018
  • Along with speedy but heretofore underachieving Tavon Austin, that’s a very good top four receiver group.
    — Peter King, SI.com, 2 Oct. 2017
  • While heretofore unseen at the federal level, a retroactive income tax hike, a large one at that, is not without precedent in the states.
    — Patrick Gleason, Forbes, 1 June 2021
  • That put the Spurs ahead by 20 over heretofore hapless Oklahoma City.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Spadoni wore a shirt printed with Chase’s smiling face, which New Orleans will heretofore have to get along without.
    — Doug MacCash, nola.com, 13 June 2019
  • Pretzel Nuggets Even better than the peanut butter ones, which was heretofore thought to be impossible.
    — Alex Begg, Bon Appétit, 30 June 2021
  • The era of self-driving cars is just beginning to inch into view and now proffers the chance to forge a gearhead specialty that heretofore did not exist.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 10 Apr. 2021
  • Combined with the sweaty temps, my neighborhood is seeing mushroom variants heretofore unknown to science.
    — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 27 May 2026
  • The assignment of boarding zones, meant to quell the crowd, has heretofore been unsuccessful due to a lack of enforcement on the part of the airlines.
    — Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Oct. 2024
  • The Knicks made the Spurs’ heretofore flimsy defense appear impregnable.
    — Jeff McDonald, ExpressNews.com, 23 Nov. 2019
  • But the past few years have seen heretofore unimaginable events, from the pandemic to the Capitol riot, in quick succession.
    — Amos Barshad, Rolling Stone, 15 Feb. 2022
  • One of the clowns, a teen-age girl waddling about in a penguin suit, produced a hula hoop, a device heretofore unknown in Al-Hol.
    — Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
  • Sunshine and exercise are great and all, but one of the joys of the season is that some of those heretofore indoor activities can be taken to the outside world.
    — Wired Staff, WIRED, 25 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heretofore.' 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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