Synonyms for things


Grammar : Noun
Spell : thing
Phonetic Transcription : θɪŋ


Définition of things

Origin :
  • Old English þing "meeting, assembly," later "entity, being, matter" (subject of deliberation in an assembly), also "act, deed, event, material object, body, being," from Proto-Germanic *thengan "appointed time" (cf. Old Frisian thing "assembly, council, suit, matter, thing," Middle Dutch dinc "court-day, suit, plea, concern, affair, thing," Dutch ding "thing," Old High German ding "public assembly for judgment and business, lawsuit," German ding "affair, matter, thing," Old Norse þing "public assembly"). Some suggest an ultimate connection to PIE root *ten- "stretch," perhaps on notion of "stretch of time for a meeting or assembly."
  • For sense evolution, cf. French chose, Spanish cosa "thing," from Latin causa "judicial process, lawsuit, case;" Latin res "affair, thing," also "case at law, cause." Old sense is preserved in second element of hustings and in Icelandic Althing, the nation's general assembly.
  • Used colloquially since c.1600 to indicate things the speaker can't name at the moment, often with various meaningless suffixes, e.g. thingumbob (1751), thingamajig (1824). Southern U.S. pronunciation thang attested from 1937. The thing "what's stylish or fashionable" is recorded from 1762. Phrase do your thing "follow your particular predilection," though associated with hippie-speak of 1960s is attested from 1841.
  • noun belongings
Example sentences :
  • Things as trifling as the turning of a shell may restore you to your rights.
  • Extract from : « Philothea » by Lydia Maria Child
  • I know it all by heart—all the things to say to a man on the downward path.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • Many other things I saw and heard, but was forbidden to relate.
  • Extract from : « Philothea » by Lydia Maria Child
  • But he was a man and his own master—if you can rightly call a man his own master that does them things.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • I'm going back there, and get things in action, and I'm going to stay by them.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • That was the way with his pa—he was a different man after things got to comin' too easy fur him.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • Things looked unpromising, he couldn't but acknowledge, for his young client.
  • Extract from : « Brave and Bold » by Horatio Alger
  • How frantic, as if all things were about to eventuate, remembering not that nothing ends.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • "I'll attend to these things, ma," said Percival, rather suddenly.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
  • And six weeks after that I had things in shape so't I was able to leave.
  • Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019