our

¹

[ ouuhr, ou-er; unstressed ahr ]

pronoun

1. (a form of the possessive case of we used as an attributive adjective):

   Our team is going to win. Do you mind our going on ahead?

-our

²

British.

1. variant of -or ¹.

our

¹

/ aʊə /

determiner

1. of, belonging to, or associated in some way with us

   our parents are good to us

   our best vodka

2. belonging to or associated with all people or people in general

   our nearest planet is Venus

3. a formal word for my used by editors or other writers, and monarchs
4. informal.
   (often sarcastic) used instead of your

   are our feet hurting?

5. dialect.
   belonging to the family of the speaker

   it's our Sandra's birthday tomorrow

-our

²

suffix forming nouns

1. indicating state, condition, or activity

   labour

   behaviour

Spelling Note

See -or ¹.

Grammar Note

See me.

Word History and Origins

Origin of our¹

before 900; Middle English oure, Old English ūre, suppletive genitive plural of wē we from same base as ūs us

Word History and Origins

Origin of our¹

Old English ūre (genitive plural), from us ; related to Old French, Old Saxon ūser, Old High German unsēr, Gothic unsara

Origin of our²

in Old French -eur, from Latin -or, noun suffix

Example Sentences

Yet American minimalism, isolationism, realism, mind-our-own-business-ism—whatever you want to call it—is cyclical.

From The Daily Beast

As you know, I wrote in our/your anthology: “All stories are, in some way, war stories.”

From The Daily Beast

My boyfriend and I were super-passionate about making out, but the losing-our-virginity thing was overwhelming.

From The Daily Beast

Romney purports to like 30 Rock, but I don't believe anything released by staffs in these let's-humanize-our-guy press releases.

From The Daily Beast

On the other hand, when it comes to the upper-crusty, too-rich-to-feel-our-pain issue, Romney seems to have the edge over Kerry.

From The Daily Beast

Arm′our-bear′er; Arm′ourer, a maker or repairer of, or one who has the charge of, armour.

From Project Gutenberg

The piscina probably belonged to the chantry of Our-Lady-in-the-Lady-loft.

From Project Gutenberg

He generally talks like one of those continued-in-our-next yarns in the magazines.

From Project Gutenberg

For understanding the Prophecies, we are, in the first place, to acquaint our-selves with the figurative language of the Prophets.

From Project Gutenberg

March-of-mind became to many almost as wearisome a cry as wisdom-of-our-ancestors had been.

From Project Gutenberg