each other

American  

pronoun

1. each the other; one another (used as a compound reciprocal pronoun).

   to strike at each other; to hold each other's hands; to love each other.

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each other British  

pronoun

1. used when the action, attribution, etc, is reciprocal

   furious with each other

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each other Idioms  

1. Also, one another. Each one the other, one the other, as in The boys like each other, or The birds were fighting one another over the crumbs. Both of these phrases indicate a reciprocal relationship or action between the subjects preceding (the boys, the birds). Formerly, many authorities held that each other should be confined to a relationship between two subjects only and one another used when there are more than two. Today most do not subscribe to this distinction, which was never strictly observed anyway. [Late 1300s] Also see at each other's throats.

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Usage

Although some insist that each other be used only in reference to two ( The two candidates respected each other ) and one another in reference to three or more ( The three nations threaten one another ), in standard practice they are interchangeable. Each other is not restricted to two, nor is one another restricted to three or more. The possessive of each other is each other's; the possessive of one another is one another's.

Each other and one another are interchangeable in modern British usage

Etymology

Origin of each other

before 1000; Middle English; Old English. See each, other

Compare meaning

How does each-other compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• each other vs. one another

Example Sentences

Her last theatre role overall, however, was just before the Covid pandemic, in a 2019 production of When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre.

From BBC • Aug. 21, 2024

What We Owe Each Other is essentially a lengthy meditation on the observation that greater economic productivity will enable “more generous social contracts.”

From Slate • May 9, 2024

Showing Up for Each Other When Broadway started reopening, I was asked to do a live concert for the Roundabout Theater Company’s gala in Central Park.

From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2022

What Carax is saying about the fickleness of celebrity and the perils of fame seems almost as obvious as "We Love Each Other So Much."

From Salon • Aug. 5, 2021

Uniting Pieces of Glass to Each Other, known as Welding, or Soldering.—The larger and more complicated pieces of glass apparatus are usually made in separate sections, and completed by joining together the several parts.

From The Methods of Glass Blowing and of Working Silica in the Oxy-Gas Flame For the use of chemical and physical students by Shenstone, W. A.

Related Words

• one