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every time; on every occasion; without exception:
He always works on Saturday.
all the time; continuously; uninterruptedly:
There is always some pollution in the air.
forever:
Will you always love me?
in any event; at any time; if necessary:
She can always move back with her parents.
Contemporary Examples

“The show, to him, has always been something like a forum,” Shaffer says.
Paul Shaffer’s Life With Letterman Lloyd Grove August 28, 2014

She said Greig was always warm and friendly, but Bulger was not.
Whitey Bulger’s Wily Girl Christine Pelisek June 26, 2011

My friend group—the gay nightclub sort of people—were always like, ‘Oh I wish I could afford to do that.’
Meet Justin Jedlica, the Real Life Ken Doll Erin Cunningham April 14, 2014

“I always want to be a sort of bad-ass, and I always come out smelling like a wildflower,” she told me.
Judy Collins’s New Book: Suicide, Alcoholism, Nude Photos, and More Joseph Finder December 2, 2011

I’ve always had good luck, and I thought it was another stroke of good fortune to be invested with the legendary Bernard Madoff.
The Bag Lady Papers Alexandra Penney December 16, 2008

Historical Examples

In short, when a person is always to deceive, it is impossible to be consistent.
Lady Susan Jane Austen

If it does not always tell us what to do, it always cautions us what not to do.
Philothea Lydia Maria Child

“I always feel like a traveling anachronism in one of your English trains,” he said.
The Black Bag Louis Joseph Vance

When he did go it was always understood to be positively for not more than two weeks.
The Spenders Harry Leon Wilson

It’s because of the way I’ve been brought up and because of the way I’ve always lived!
The Harbor Ernest Poole

adverb
without exception; on every occasion; every time: he always arrives on time
continually; repeatedly
in any case: you could always take a day off work
(informal) for ever; without end: our marriage is for always
adv.

mid-14c., compound of Old English phrase ealne weg “always, quite, perpetually,” literally “all the way,” with accusative of space or distance, though the oldest recorded usages refer to time. The adverbial genitive -s appeared early 13c. and is now the standard, though the variant alway survived into 1800s. OED speculates allway was originally of space or distance, “but already in the oldest Eng. transferred to an extent of time.”