third party

American  

noun

• third parties
  plural

1. any party to an incident, case, quarrel, etc., who is incidentally involved.

2. (in a two-party system) a political party formed as a dissenting or independent group from members of one or both of the two prevailing major parties.

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third party British  

noun

1. a person who is involved by chance or only incidentally in a legal proceeding, agreement, or other transaction, esp one against whom a defendant claims indemnity

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adjective

1. insurance providing protection against liability caused by accidental injury or death of other persons or damage to their property

   third-party insurance

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• third parties
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of third party

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third party

However, she added there was no evidence to suggest any of the information accessed by Parsons had been passed to a third party.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Garza said he feels no loyalty to either party and wishes there were a third party that showed it actually cared about Latinos and their interests.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

It was not known if the recordings were shared with a third party, notably in China, but the officer could not rule out the possibility.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

“Red Lake grid instability appears to be transitory, while the transmission lines were getting connected to a nearby third party, while at Mungari the power problems appear more structural,” Macquarie says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Somebody, a third party, agreed the fishing had gone sour, the bank seemed all dried up real sudden, he’d been thinking on fishing at Elliot Head, couldn’t tell but maybe things was better there.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

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Related Words

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