contraction of it is:
It's starting to rain.
contraction of it has: It's been a long time.
While it is possible to use its as a predicate adjective ( The cat is angry because the bowl you're eating out of is its! ) or as a pronoun meaning “that or those belonging to it” ( Your notebook pages are torn. Borrow my notebook—its aren't ), such use is rare and in most circumstances strained. See also me.
See contraction.
One of the commonest mistakes made in written English is the confusion of its and it's . You can see examples of this every day in books, magazines, and newspapers: its good for us; a smart case with it's own mirror , and even Cheng, and its' subsidiaries . Its refers to something belonging to or relating to a thing that has already been mentioned: the baby threw its rattle out of the pram . It's is a shortened way of saying it is or it has (the apostrophe indicates that a letter has been omitted: it's a lovely day; it's been a great weekend .
A very common mistake is to write its (the possessive form of it ) when it's (the short form of it is or it has ) is required: It's [it is] unclear what he meant. It's [it has] been wonderful seeing you again. But do not use it's for it has when has is the main verb: It has a strong flavor; use it sparingly cannot be written as It's a strong flavor… An equally common mistake is to use it's for the possessive, probably because ordinary possessives of nouns are formed with an apostrophe: the dog's coat; Mary's cell phone. But the possessive its is a pronoun, not a noun, and, like other possessive pronouns ( his, hers, yours, and theirs ), is written without that particular bit of punctuation: I have to fix my bike. Its front wheel came off.
See its.
First recorded in 1590–1600; earlier it's, equivalent to it 1 + 's 2
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Davidson’s Luria told MarketWatch that higher interest rates and constrained availability of capital may be “issues unique to CoreWeave” given its “unusually high exposure to debt financing.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Here, its backlit effect evokes the “heap of broken images” that T.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Delta also topped Wall Street’s expectations and reinstated its outlook for the year, saying it had absorbed “the highest quarterly fuel expense” in its history.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
At Anthropic, as at OpenAI, a mission entity—here, a “purpose trust”—controls a public benefit corporation, Anthropic PBC, by appointing a majority of its board.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
What happened this morning becomes the talk of the school and makes its way into our classrooms.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Todd Sohn, chief ETF strategist at Baird Strategas, said it’s important for investors to keep in mind that products like leveraged ETFs “are meant to be held on a daily basis, not long term.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
“Nobody knows if they even are doing anything at Pickaxe, it’s just something that comes up.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
There are steps we could take to make the court seem more like the public body it’s supposed to be.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2026
Ryninks said he had "always wanted to set a film on the Ceredigion coast as it's my favourite place in the world".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
Captain Shingo takes note of the Philippines’ supply of oil, which is something the Japanese military needs if it’s going to accomplish its vision.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
