ONLY WHEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does only when mean? 

• ONLY WHEN (adverb)
  The adverb ONLY WHEN has 1 sense:

1. never except when

  Familiarity information: ONLY WHEN used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ONLY WHEN (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Never except when

Synonyms:

only; only if; only when

Context example:

call me only if your cold gets worse

 Context examples 

But this was only when the master was not around.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

This was only when we were in the act of entering his room, and when I caught a glance at him over my aunt's shoulder.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was only when we were on the lawn outside that his interest was strongly excited.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“But it will serve only when we are sailing by the wind,” I explained.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It is only when I look upon the untroubled faces of my comrades that I see some glimmer through the darkness.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I generally rested during the day and travelled only when I was secured by night from the view of man.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The researchers found that the decreased methylation increased the expression of many genes, but only when the mice were exposed to pregnancy-related hormones.

(Mammary Gland May Have Epigenetic Memory, NIH)

Or is her heart constant to him only when unsolicited by anyone else?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Fanny, meanwhile, speaking only when she could not help it, was very earnestly trying to understand what Mr. and Miss Crawford were at.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Doctors consider radical mastectomy only when the tumor has spread to the chest muscles.

(Halsted radical mastectomy, NCI Dictionary)