third person

American  

[thurd pur-suhn] / ˈθɜrd ˈpɜr sən /

noun

1. the grammatical person used by the speaker of an utterance in referring to anyone or anything other than the speaker or the one third person singular or ones third person plural being addressed.

2. a pronoun or verb form in the third person, as she or goes in English, or a set of such forms.

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third person British  

noun

1. a grammatical category of pronouns and verbs used when referring to objects or individuals other than the speaker or his addressee(s)

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Etymology

Origin of third person

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third person

"So he responded in the third person, which was probably quite a wise decision," Cullen said.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

A third person, a German woman, died May 2, and a British man was medically evacuated on April 27 to South Africa, where he also tested positive for hantavirus.

From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026

Terrifyingly, he refers to “humans” in the third person, as if he no longer considers himself one of our species.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

A review by American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Roger Pielke Jr. noticed that one of those earlier publications was co-authored with a third person who wasn’t named as an author in the climate chapter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

Anne had become philosophic about breaking Dad down a little at a time, and she had suspected all along that there was going to be a third person on her first date.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey