Thursday
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does Thursday mean? Thursday is the weekday between Wednesday and Friday. In much of North and South America, where most countries (including the U. S. and Canada) consider the calendar week to begin on Sunday, Thursday is the fifth day of the week. (In other places, where the week is considered to begin on Saturday or Monday, Thursday is the sixth or fourth day of the week.)Regardless of when the week officially begins, in many places Thursday is considered the fourth day of the workweek, the five-day span from Monday to Friday during which many people work (with Saturday and Sunday considered the weekend). People famously love Friday because it’s when the workweek ends and the weekend begins, and Thursday is often thought of as being almost Friday. The word Thursdays can be used as an adverb meaning every Thursday or on Thursdays, as in I work Thursdays or The shop is closed Thursdays. To indicate the general time of day during which something will happen on a Thursday, the word can be followed by the general time, as in Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening, and Thursday night. Example: At least it’s Thursday already—only one day of work between now and the weekend!
Etymology
Origin of Thursday
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English Thursdæg, from Old Danish Thūrsdagr, literally, “Thor's day”; replacing Old English Thunres dæg; cognate with Dutch donderdag, German Donnerstag (all representing Germanic translation of Late Latin diēs Jovis ). See Thor, thunder, day
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This office, though quiet on this Thursday, does get used—it is not just “a museum of history,” as Gus Hall used to call it.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
Prince William and the Princess of Wales were on the Isle of Bute on Thursday focusing on royal duty rather than family fallout.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
All major U.S. indexes were in the green, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched their best trading days in six weeks Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Authorities on Thursday released the names of the husband and wife: David Voight, 56, and Amy Voight, 54.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
By eleven o' clock Thursday night Ben was finished.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
