Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

themselves en · PRON

Pronunciation

  • /ðəmˈsɛlvz/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
  • [ðɛmˈsɛɫvz] (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
  • [ðəmˈseɫvz] (Australia, New-Zealand)
  • (US) audio
  • [ðemˈseɫvz] (Australia, New-Zealand)
  • /ðəmˈselvz/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
  • /ðemˈselvz/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
  • /ðɛmˈsɛlvz/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
  • [ðəmˈsɛɫvz] (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Morphologically them + -selves.

Meanings

  1. (pronoun, reflexive, third-person) The reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun. The group of people, animals, or objects previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).
    • They are going to try climbing Mount Everest themselves.
    • They fought among themselves.
    • The real drama came as these two camps fought for undecideds, who literally found themselves in the middle. 2008 February 17, Jennifer Finney Boylan, “At the Maine Caucuses, a Tough Nut to Crack”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022:
    • They’ve hurt themselves.
    • The preposterous altruism too![…]Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
  2. (pronoun, reflexive, third-person) The reflexive case of they, the third-person singular personal pronoun. The single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).
    • Would whoever stole my phone please make themselves known.
    • In fact she was so busy doing all the things that anyone might, who finds themselves alone in an empty house, that she did not notice at first when it began to turn dusk and the rooms to grow dim. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 18:
    • Everyone must do it themselves.
    • I don't want anyone to fight among themselves.
    • Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 2:3:
    • “Anyone who has experienced or witnessed an anaphylaxis reaction knows it can be very stressful deciding when to inject epinephrine to themselves or a child and often delay,” Dr. Jonathan Spergel, chief of the allergy program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a news release from ARS Pharmaceuticals. 2024 August 9, Meg Tirrell, “First nasal spray epinephrine drug for emergency allergic reactions gets FDA approval”, in CNN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
of they Reflex=Yes lexicographic

Relateds

Ime · they · he · themhem · mymineme · me · thou · your · all yours y'all's you guys' your guys' · her · thyselftheeselfthysen · she · themselvestheirsen · y'allselves · oursourn · our · themself · himselfhisselfhissen · The following table shows a list of English personal pronoun · itselfhitself · one · yourselves · mine · all your y'all's your all's you guys' your guys' · yoursyourn · archaic forms are in italics. 1 See Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns for attested neopronoun. · yourselfyoursen · itshishits · itshis · ourselvesourselfoursen · us · – · their · him · we · you · one's · ithit · hishisn · including archaic and dialectal forms. Dialectal and obsolete · thythine · myselfmemysen · theirstheirn · hershern · his · herselfhersen · youye · thine · you ally'all you guys yous · them · theirs · 'em · oneself · thee

Synonyms

theirself · himself · herself · themself · theirselves · 'emselves

Translations (71)

dsb se (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · se iežaska du (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · es se (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · lv viņi paši (emphatic: they) · se iežaset (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · ca mateixos (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · be сабе́ (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · pt se (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · cmn 他們自己 /他们自己 (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · cy eu hun (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fr elles-mêmes (emphatic: they) · fi itseään (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · be яны́ са́мі (emphatic: they) · pl same (emphatic: they) · cy eu hunan (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fi itseään (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · cmn 他們自己 /他们自己 (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · fr eux-mêmes (emphatic: they) · ca es (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · eo sin (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fr se (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · la ipsi (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · uk себе́ (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · ru себя́ (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · uk вони́ сами́ (emphatic: they) · rom pen (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · pt si (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · hu maguk (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · pl sami (emphatic: they) · fi itsensä (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · es ellas mismas (emphatic: they) · be сабо́й (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · bg самите (emphatic: they) · tyv боттары (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · ja 彼ら自身 (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · ru себя́ (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fi itsensä (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fi keskenään (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · pt eles mesmos (emphatic: they) · cs samy (emphatic: they) · nv tʼáá hó (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · sah бэйэлэрэ (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · lv viņas pašas (emphatic: they) · be сябе́ (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · sk ony same (emphatic: they) · fi itselleen (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · cs sama (emphatic: they) · la ipsos (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · hu önmaguk (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · bg се́бе си (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · es ellos mismos (emphatic: they) · rmf peen (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fi itse (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · se ieža (emphatic: they) · uk вони́ самі́ (emphatic: they) · kjh постары (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · cs samy (emphatic: they) · la ipsas (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · cs sami (emphatic: they) · no seg (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · vo okis (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · sk oni sami (emphatic: they) · hu magukat (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · fi itse (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · be -цца (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · ja 彼ら自身 (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · hu önmagukat (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · pt elas mesmas (emphatic: they) · la ipsa (the persons of unspecified gender previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition) · de sich (the reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun) · ru они́ са́ми (emphatic: they)