thousand

American  

[thau-zuhnd] / ˈθaʊ zənd /

noun

• thousands,
  plural
• thousand
  plural

1. 

   a cardinal number, 10 times 100.

2. a symbol for this number, as 1000 or M.

3. thousands. the numbers between 1000 and 999,999, as in referring to an amount of money.

   Property damage was in the thousands.

4. a great number or amount.

5. Also thousand's place

   1. (in a mixed number) the position of the fourth digit to the left of the decimal point.

   2. (in a whole number) the position of the fourth digit from the right.

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adjective

1. amounting to 1000 in number.

thousand British  

/ ˈθaʊzənd /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100 See also number

2. a numeral, 1000, 10³, M, etc, representing this number

3. (often plural) a very large but unspecified number, amount, or quantity

   they are thousands of miles away

4. (plural) the numbers 2000–9999

   the price of the picture was in the thousands

5. the amount or quantity that is one hundred times greater than ten

6. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 1000 units

7. maths the position containing a digit representing that number followed by three zeros

   in 4760, 4 is in the thousand's place

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to a thousand

      a thousand ships

   2. ( as pronoun )

      a thousand is hardly enough

2. amounting to 1000 times a particular scientific unit

thousand Idioms  

1. see bat a thousand; by the dozen (thousand); one in a million (thousand); picture is worth a thousand words.

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Usage

What does thousand mean? A thousand is a number equal to 10 times 100. In numerals, it’s 1,000 or 1000. The word thousand is almost always preceded by the word a (as in a thousand, which means the same thing as 1,000) or by another number, as in two thousand (2,000), ten thousand (10,000), or nine hundred ninety-nine thousand (999,000). You wouldn’t say “I have thousand dollars”—you would say “I have a thousand dollars” or “I have one thousand dollars.”In the context of math, the range of numbers between 1,000 and 999,999 is called the thousands (just as the range between 100 and 999 is called the hundreds). In general, the plural form thousands typically refers to a large but unspecified number or amount somewhere in the thousands, as in The repairs will cost thousands of dollars. Generally, this means between 2,000 and 9,999. The term tens of thousands could be used for a higher amount (typically between 10,000 and 99,999). The phrase the thousands can also be used to refer to a large number or amount without giving the exact total, as in I don’t know how many people were at the concert, but it had to be in the thousands. Thousand and thousands are also often used to exaggerate the number or amount of something, as in I heard about a thousand excuses from my students today or I have thousands of things I need to get done. In Roman numerals, the number one thousand is represented by the letter M. Example: There must have been a thousand people playing in the park today.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• thousand
  plural
• thousands
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of thousand

before 900; Middle English; Old English thūsend; cognate with Dutch duizend, Old High German dūsunt, Old Norse thūsund, Gothic thūsindi

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thousand thousands

He warned that the two or three thousand suppliers to the firm only worked for Poundland so they would be directly affected by its collapse.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

"I have students who are sitting the baccalaureate at the end of the year, and several hundred thousand of them haven't attended classes for four or five weeks," he said.

From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026

A few thousand years from now, it will be something else.

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2026

Fifty thousand people watched him in his canary-yellow Bananas uniform singing live.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

A crowd of ten thousand at the Baltimore depot on April 22, 1865 paid its respects to President Lincoln as his body traveled by train to his burial site in Springfield, Illinois.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

The US Treasury said Rwanda's defence ministry directed thousands of troops to fight alongside M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo, providing weapons, equipment, logistics and training.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

Particularly In Texas, this puts hundreds of thousands of Muslims in an untenable position.

From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2026

Recent months have seen trade unions mobilise against austerity measures with rolling protests that have brought tens of thousands of people into the streets.

From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026

Tiny traces of genetic material left behind by ancient inhabitants can survive in soil and other deposits for thousands of years, providing information about people whose bones have never been found.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

Tens of thousands of government officials worked to teach the entire population what to do if the Americans attacked.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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