thing
noun
Simple meaning
A separate and self-contained entity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
thingIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈθɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A separate and self-contained entity
That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.
An individual object or distinct entity.
A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.
Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent.
A special situation
“This thing has got to end.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A separate and self-contained entity
Used this way, thing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use thing
- “This thing has got to end.”noun
- “To say the same thing in other terms.”noun
- “How could you do such a thing?”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The intellectual conception of a thing as it is in itself, not as it is known through perception.
Say it better
Looking for a more precise alternative? “thing” can mean several things.
the pricing changea tool / a habit / a rulethe whole project / evening / processcheckingexcellent
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.