it
pronoun
(used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context).
it
1 American
[it]
/ ɪt /
pronoun
-
they,
plural nominative
-
them,
objective
-
its,
possessive
-
their,
possessive
-
theirs
possessive
-
(used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context).
It has whitewall tires and red upholstery.
You can't tell a book by its cover.
-
(used to represent an animal understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned whose sex is unknown or disregarded).
It was the largest shark ever caught off the Florida coast.
The horse had its saddle on.
-
(used to represent a person of previously unknown identity, in a sentence seeking, establishing, or commenting on their identity).
"I heard the phone ring—who was it?" "It was John."
Someone got hurt, but they think it was not the driver.
-
(used to represent a group understood or previously mentioned).
The judge told the jury it must decide two issues.
-
(used to represent a concept or abstract idea understood or previously stated).
It all started with my choice to walk out that door.
He has been taught to believe it all his life.
-
(used to represent an action or activity understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned).
Since you don't like it, you don't have to go skiing.
-
(used as the impersonal subject of the verb to be, especially to refer to time, distance, or the weather).
It is six o'clock.
It is five miles to town.
It was foggy.
-
(used in statements expressing an action, condition, fact, circumstance, or situation without reference to an agent).
If it weren't for Edna, I wouldn't go.
-
(used in referring to something as the origin or cause of pain, pleasure, etc.).
Where does it hurt?
It looks bad for the candidate.
-
(used in referring to a source not specifically named or described).
It is said that love is blind.
-
(used in referring to the general state of affairs, circumstances, fate, or life in general).
How's it going with you?
-
(used as an anticipatory subject or object in order to shift emphasis).
It is necessary that you do your duty.
It is I who should apologize.
It was a very kind thing he did there.
-
Informal. (used instead of the pronoun its before a gerund).
It having rained for only one hour didn't help the crops.
noun
-
(in children's games) the player called upon to perform some task, such as, in tag, the one who must catch the other players.
-
Slang.
-
sex appeal.
-
sexual intercourse.
-
idioms
-
get with it, to become active or interested.
He was warned to get with it or resign.
-
with it,
-
aware of the latest fads, fashions, etc.; up-to-date.
By grooving on teenage slang, the principal is trying to show us how with it she is, but the effect is something like seeing a mohawk on Grandma.
-
attentive or alert.
I'm just not with it early in the morning.
-
understanding or appreciative of something.
Let's face it—when it comes to originality, Hollywood isn't really with it.
-
Carnival Slang. being a member of the carnival.
-
-
it is what it is. see it is what it is.
-
it's not over till it's over. see it's not over till it's over.
-
have it,
-
to love someone.
She really has it bad for him.
-
to possess the requisite abilities for something; be talented, adept, or proficient.
In this business you either have it or you don't.
-
it
2
American
[it]
/ ɪt /
noun
British Informal.
It
3
American
abbreviation
IT
4
American
abbreviation
It.
5
American
abbreviation
-
Italian.
-
Italy.
it
1
British
/ ɪt /
pronoun
-
refers to a nonhuman, animal, plant, or inanimate thing, or sometimes to a small baby
it looks dangerous
give it a bone
-
refers to an unspecified or implied antecedent or to a previous or understood clause, phrase, etc
it is impossible
I knew it
-
used to represent human life or experience either in totality or in respect of the present situation
how's it going?
I've had it
to brazen it out
-
used as a formal subject (or object), referring to a following clause, phrase, or word
it helps to know the truth
I consider it dangerous to go on
-
used in the nominative as the formal grammatical subject of impersonal verbs. When it functions absolutely in such sentences, not referring to any previous or following clause or phrase, the context is nearly always a description of the environment or of some physical sensation
it is raining
it hurts
-
informal (used as complement with be) the crucial or ultimate point
the steering failed and I thought that was it
noun
-
(in children's games) the player whose turn it is to try to touch another Compare he 1
-
informal
-
sexual intercourse
-
sex appeal
-
-
informal a desirable quality or ability
he's really got it
It.
2
British
abbreviation
-
Italian
-
Italy
IT
3
British
abbreviation
it
4
British
abbreviation
it
More Idioms
Grammar
See me.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of it1
First recorded before 900; Middle English hit, hitte, it, Old English hit, neuter of he 1
Origin of it2
First recorded in 1930–35; It(alian vermouth)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On those occasions, my wife—or, if further problems with the student arose, the principal—held the cellphone until a parent or guardian appeared to claim it and discuss the problem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
If it did, he said, he wouldn’t be watching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is proposing to provide what it describes as additional clarity on the term “swap” that would include event contracts used in prediction market trading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Anthropic also told the police it added an additional validation mechanism for future testing, according to the agency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
If she must be sick for a while, so be it.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It takes more than teachers; it also takes family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
It felt like the gentlemanly thing to do.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
It was just England's third win in their past eight competitive away games.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
It has been an exceptionally quiet Atlantic hurricane season, broadly consistent with a strong El Niño, said Barnett, referring to a climate pattern that can lead to warmer weather.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
“When you do,” Caesar instructs, “put your hands inside the loop and hold the horn. It might save you.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Sectors impacted in the August-September sell-off were IT services, non-banking financial companies and staples despite solid 1QFY27 earnings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Colin immediately sent a text to his IT people that said simply, “Shut it down,” and they’d instantly thrown the building into lockdown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The "failure was one of communication, not application", he said, adding that the ministry was working hard to search through documents across multiple IT systems and classifications at "huge expense".
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
The 23-year-old IT specialist said he was woken up by an explosion but only realised the strike had hit his own building when he checked the news.
From Barron's
IT WAS A windy, rainy Friday morning in January when my eyes told me what at first my brain refused to grasp.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
When the apartment finally went quiet, I opened my Notes app and typed: “You. Can. Have. It. All.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Its "See It. Say It. Sorted." campaign was launched in 2016 and then relaunched last year, encouraging the public to report "anything unusual", either to station staff or to British Transport Police.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
“Let. It. Go,” wrote The Sentinel on April 2 in an editorial, referring to the popular song from the Disney movie “Frozen.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
Municipalities are working to this end, with programs such as New York City’s $2 million “Trash It. Don’t Flush It” public awareness campaign.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2019
“Love it. Love. It. This is exactly what we need for our first scene today.”
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
“Those barrels could help, but they may not fully materialize, and what does arrive will likely still be too little, too late.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Because of this, when university administrators discipline fraternities, they often receive pushback from otherwise loyal and generous alumni.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
From the beginning of the republic, they were carried out in town squares across the country.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Lionesses are also not used to being in play-offs, a route they are having to take after finishing runners-up to world champions Spain in their qualifying group.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Often, they use the same water for washing, laundry, and drinking.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The court then buried the allegations against Mr. Khan for months until these columns and a few others brought them to the fore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
But the law keeps thwarting them, and the Hutchinson case could become the latest example.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
Special mention should also go to the performances by Vanessa Ceban and Jonathan Ciprian Breazu as the couple’s teenage children, also to Henrikke Lund-Olsen as a neighbor girl who becomes close to them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Six months ago he launched Embroidery, which uses AI “supervisors” to monitor AI agents and to detect and stop them if they begin to behave in misaligned ways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
While most men eye each other respectfully or suspiciously, these men glare, fearless, daring anyone to bother them.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Russell 2000 index fell for a fifth-straight week, marking its longest weekly losing streak since May 2022.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
It’s possible that the Nobel Committee will someday bestow its peace prize on a less worthy recipient than Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, but we doubt it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Late last month the Russian government extended its suspension of diesel exports until Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Putin echoed Trump’s statement, saying Moscow “reaffirmed its readiness to supply oil and refined products to the American and global markets.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Normally, Pink Floyd’s “Dogs” would be a weird party band choice, but Dog Street divided the rez’s north side from its south.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
For administrations, this creates a thorny situation in which fraternity chapters remain associated with the universities—or at least, in physical proximity with them, and enrolling their students—even if they are not sanctioned by them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"It's hard for a parent to lose a son, and we lost two sons," said their father, Martin.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
But they’re also in a situation where the investing public, including sophisticated venture capitalists, interpret their creations as potential cash machines, worth maybe $2 trillion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The valuations of small-cap stocks have dropped significantly, and are now below their historical averages during times when interest rates were 5% to 7%, according to analysts at Bank of America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Their cabins have no running water, so they trek barefoot to the main building to fetch their own.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Costelloe has previously said the church's investigation into Saunders - paused when police resumed theirs - will restart.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
People rarely think about money while sipping piña coladas and sailing to exotic destinations, but cruise-line passengers might have noticed a detail that helps explain how those companies make theirs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
That’s your issue to grapple with — not theirs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
She said she wishes California and Congress had acted sooner but hopes a win now will help other Jewish families reclaim what is rightfully theirs in the future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
He watched as some unfurled their branches while others curled theirs into huge wooden knots—fists.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
