it
pronoun
(used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context).
it
1 American
[it]
/ ɪt /
pronoun
-
they,
plural nominative
-
them,
objective
-
its,
possessive
-
their,
possessive
-
theirs
possessive
-
(used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context).
It has whitewall tires and red upholstery.
You can't tell a book by its cover.
-
(used to represent an animal understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned whose sex is unknown or disregarded).
It was the largest shark ever caught off the Florida coast.
The horse had its saddle on.
-
(used to represent a person of previously unknown identity, in a sentence seeking, establishing, or commenting on their identity).
"I heard the phone ring—who was it?" "It was John."
Someone got hurt, but they think it was not the driver.
-
(used to represent a group understood or previously mentioned).
The judge told the jury it must decide two issues.
-
(used to represent a concept or abstract idea understood or previously stated).
It all started with my choice to walk out that door.
He has been taught to believe it all his life.
-
(used to represent an action or activity understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned).
Since you don't like it, you don't have to go skiing.
-
(used as the impersonal subject of the verb to be, especially to refer to time, distance, or the weather).
It is six o'clock.
It is five miles to town.
It was foggy.
-
(used in statements expressing an action, condition, fact, circumstance, or situation without reference to an agent).
If it weren't for Edna, I wouldn't go.
-
(used in referring to something as the origin or cause of pain, pleasure, etc.).
Where does it hurt?
It looks bad for the candidate.
-
(used in referring to a source not specifically named or described).
It is said that love is blind.
-
(used in referring to the general state of affairs, circumstances, fate, or life in general).
How's it going with you?
-
(used as an anticipatory subject or object in order to shift emphasis).
It is necessary that you do your duty.
It is I who should apologize.
It was a very kind thing he did there.
-
Informal. (used instead of the pronoun its before a gerund).
It having rained for only one hour didn't help the crops.
noun
-
(in children's games) the player called upon to perform some task, such as, in tag, the one who must catch the other players.
-
Slang.
-
sex appeal.
-
sexual intercourse.
-
idioms
-
get with it, to become active or interested.
He was warned to get with it or resign.
-
with it,
-
aware of the latest fads, fashions, etc.; up-to-date.
By grooving on teenage slang, the principal is trying to show us how with it she is, but the effect is something like seeing a mohawk on Grandma.
-
attentive or alert.
I'm just not with it early in the morning.
-
understanding or appreciative of something.
Let's face it—when it comes to originality, Hollywood isn't really with it.
-
Carnival Slang. being a member of the carnival.
-
-
it is what it is. see it is what it is.
-
it's not over till it's over. see it's not over till it's over.
-
have it,
-
to love someone.
She really has it bad for him.
-
to possess the requisite abilities for something; be talented, adept, or proficient.
In this business you either have it or you don't.
-
it
2
American
[it]
/ ɪt /
noun
British Informal.
It
3
American
abbreviation
IT
4
American
abbreviation
It.
5
American
abbreviation
-
Italian.
-
Italy.
it
1
British
/ ɪt /
pronoun
-
refers to a nonhuman, animal, plant, or inanimate thing, or sometimes to a small baby
it looks dangerous
give it a bone
-
refers to an unspecified or implied antecedent or to a previous or understood clause, phrase, etc
it is impossible
I knew it
-
used to represent human life or experience either in totality or in respect of the present situation
how's it going?
I've had it
to brazen it out
-
used as a formal subject (or object), referring to a following clause, phrase, or word
it helps to know the truth
I consider it dangerous to go on
-
used in the nominative as the formal grammatical subject of impersonal verbs. When it functions absolutely in such sentences, not referring to any previous or following clause or phrase, the context is nearly always a description of the environment or of some physical sensation
it is raining
it hurts
-
informal (used as complement with be) the crucial or ultimate point
the steering failed and I thought that was it
noun
-
(in children's games) the player whose turn it is to try to touch another Compare he 1
-
informal
-
sexual intercourse
-
sex appeal
-
-
informal a desirable quality or ability
he's really got it
It.
2
British
abbreviation
-
Italian
-
Italy
IT
3
British
abbreviation
it
4
British
abbreviation
it
More Idioms
Grammar
See me.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of it1
First recorded before 900; Middle English hit, hitte, it, Old English hit, neuter of he 1
Origin of it2
First recorded in 1930–35; It(alian vermouth)
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.
See Examples For:
The price of the benchmark index may have come full circle over the past five months, but the market beneath it looks quite different from earlier this year.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
“The art it represents,” wrote Vincent Canby in the New York Times, “belongs to that school of very classy calendar art supported by airlines, insurance corporations and a few enlightened barber shops.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
We have come to believe that it is “more respectful, more enlightened, to let the sick slip through the cracks than to require them to accept treatment,” he writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Oracle shares retreated 8.8% to $119.22 after the software maker unveiled plans to raise $20 billion of debt and equity as it looks to finance AI infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
She has very few belongings, but she has managed to keep her little doll Ah Choo through it all.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It also explained the explosion of national joy on Sunday evening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
It is a public benefit corporation, legally required to weigh its mission of developing AI safely alongside shareholder returns.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
It takes time for such deals to close, as well.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
It doesn’t spring to mind, it breaks my heart: “People.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
It is a painful way to exist in the world, but Joey rarely complains.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
According to another cyber expert who requested anonymity, industrial infrastructure is particularly vulnerable because it links IT systems with oft-outdated physical equipment.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
The attack on Binance came as many observers express worries that the ever-expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence models could compromise cryptography and IT security protocols.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
A 200-megawatt AI training campus costs roughly $8.2 billion, about two-thirds of that amount going for IT equipment and about one-third toward real estate and associated power infrastructure costs, according to Van Nieuwerburgh’s research.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
There were too many warehouses and they used an IT infrastructure meant for businesses triple the size, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
There she meets Scott Hipwell, an independent IT contractor who is friendly with the restaurant manager, and the two of them hit it off.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
When the apartment finally went quiet, I opened my Notes app and typed: “You. Can. Have. It. All.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Its "See It. Say It. Sorted." campaign was launched in 2016 and then relaunched last year, encouraging the public to report "anything unusual", either to station staff or to British Transport Police.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
“Let. It. Go,” wrote The Sentinel on April 2 in an editorial, referring to the popular song from the Disney movie “Frozen.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
Municipalities are working to this end, with programs such as New York City’s $2 million “Trash It. Don’t Flush It” public awareness campaign.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2019
“Supreme thinks I have It. You know, that thing that makes stars stars.”
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
That’s also based on the fixed exchange ratio, since upon deal closure, Lumentum shareholders would be due to get 4.5 Marvell shares for each Lumentum share they own.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Even when individual dancers showed that there was some way to go for their total mastery, none were defeated by Ashton’s demanding dance-making as they pressed eagerly into its intricacies of step and posture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Congressional investigations can't bring criminal charges, but they can force the subjects to testify and turn over evidence -- which can be referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
They want to be challenged by you, but ultimately they want to feel good.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
They call it "sepsis," and they know from bitter experience how quickly a "septic" wound can go from slight redness to gross swelling to a fatal condition called gangrene.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Activists, many of them associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, mounted a backlash to psychiatry as an instrument of social control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Bankers for the rich with limited liquidity will help them decide to sell assets, use cash or borrow it.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, companies with soaring stock prices tried to use them to their advantage, buying up other businesses and paying for the deals with their expensive shares.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
They just don’t have the guts to do it in front of people over and over again, which is why I try to bring them as characters to life on stage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
There wasn’t enough staff, food, or medicine to adequately care for any of them.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
That segment includes its data-center CPUs and custom networking, which are in high demand as agentic AI adoption takes off.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Yet few scenes in cinema depict the dismal reality of an ill-advised new marriage better than that of Rosy sitting on her new bed and rather despairingly running her gloved hand across its brass frame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
“We’re a patient bull for tech,” he said, cautioning about more downside potential before “tech reasserts its leadership.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
That “Ryan’s Daughter” ended up as a complex, costly production owes both to the strenuous location shooting and its maker’s addiction to sweeping effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
They arrived at the counter, its frosted-glass window taped with a smattering of flyers, some with print faded in the sun, the corners of their paper curling with age.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Cash flows are being questioned over concerns that they’ve in some cases already turned negative, he said, noting that “investors are being more demanding on their expectations.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Rosy and Doryan’s first meeting, with her comforting him as he is in the throes of a war flashback, has a desperate intensity; later, their forest love scene has a peaceable beauty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Kantrowitz measured relative performance by pitting the highest-rated stocks in each of the 11 sectors against their lowest-rated names.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Elsewhere, both dancers performing as the prankish Puck nearly stole their respective shows, as boldly athletic Jake Roxander and high-flying and hovering Takumi Miyake bolted and breezed about their forest setting with fairyland finesse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Many German, Italian, and Japanese citizens did not support the fascist practices of their governments.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine star in the Broadway show about the lengths people are willing to go to protect their family and claim what is rightfully theirs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Despite the formidable odds stacked against him he still prepares carefully for every court appearance, taking part in his own defence and helping other inmates with theirs.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Our next-door neighbors have been in theirs for 19 years, and for most of that time we thought of ourselves as friends rather than just neighbors.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 25, 2026
So it was about honoring theirs while making it my own as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
For weeks after each player made his debut, JonJon would talk nonstop about times he’d met each man, or games his team had played against theirs.
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
