It Definition

ĭt
they
pronoun
The animal or thing previously mentioned or under discussion: neuter personal pronoun in the third person singular: it is the nominative and objective form, its the possessive, and itself the reflexive and intensive; its is the possessive pronominal adjective.
Webster's New World
Used to refer to that one previously mentioned. Used of a nonhuman entity; an animate being whose sex is unspecified, unknown, or irrelevant; a group of objects or individuals; an action; or an abstraction.
Polished the table until it shone; couldn't find out who it was; opened the meeting by calling it to order.
American Heritage
It is also used as:
Webster's New World
Used as the subject of an impersonal verb.
It is snowing.
American Heritage
Used as an anticipatory subject or object.
Is it certain that they will win? We found it hard to believe that the car was that old.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
noun
An animal that has been neutered.
The cat is an it.
American Heritage
The player in a game who must do some essential thing, as the one in a game of tag who must try to catch another.
Webster's New World
Any of various attractive personal qualities, as charm, charisma, or sex appeal.
Webster's New World

One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being.

Wiktionary

Eye dialect spelling of hit (in the senses "punch", "kill", etc).

Wiktionary
Synonyms:
abbreviation
Italic(s)
Webster's New World
Italian.
Webster's New World
Information technology.
Webster's New World
Italy.
Webster's New World

(language) Italian.

Wiktionary
adjective

(colloquial) Most fashionable.

Wiktionary
verb

Eye dialect spelling of hit (in the senses "punch", "kill", etc).

Wiktionary
symbol
(music) Italian augmented sixth chord.
Wiktionary
idiom
with it
  • Aware of or knowledgeable about the latest trends or developments.
  • Mentally responsive and perceptive:

    I'm just not with it today.

American Heritage
do it
  • to engage in sexual intercourse
Webster's New World
with it
  • alert, informed, or hip
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of It

Noun

Singular:
it
Plural:
its

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to It

Origin of It

  • From Middle English, from Old English hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with West Frisian it (“it”), Low German it (“it”), Dutch het (“it”), German es (“it”). More at he.

    From Wiktionary

  • A representation of the pronunciation of hit by a speaker whose dialect lacks the voiceless glottal fricative or transition (IPA: [h]). Not to be confused with hit, which is a dialectal variant of the pronoun it.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English hit ko- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

It Sentence Examples

  • It is a beautiful place.

  • It was the earthquake.

  • The fire snapped as it grew.

  • It is the cross I have to bear.

  • It was the first money that he had ever had.

More Sentences

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