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:
The price of the benchmark index may have come full circle over the past five months, but the market beneath it looks quite different from earlier this year.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Matching me with another person taking the opposite side doesn’t transform it into something else.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
But seen today, in a transfer that glistens, it is more interesting than that: It’s Lean’s daring attempt to make a love triangle appear as monumental as it would have seemed to its benighted participants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Seeing my puzzlement, Glenn said: “Mr. Steele was my high school civics teacher. He showed me what it takes to be a good American.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
She explains that she had been taught from childhood to respect priests and what they represent in the Catholic religion, but she is finding it more and more difficult to do so.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It siphons resources away from the sickest, encourages overmedication and medicalizes normal variants of human distress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
It is a public benefit corporation, legally required to weigh its mission of developing AI safely alongside shareholder returns.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
It turns out that stocks in developed markets outside the U.S. remain bargain-priced in comparison.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
It was a rite of passage to play songs for him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
It feels good to have the cold air hit my face.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
The attack on Binance came as many observers express worries that the ever-expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence models could compromise cryptography and IT security protocols.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
A 200-megawatt AI training campus costs roughly $8.2 billion, about two-thirds of that amount going for IT equipment and about one-third toward real estate and associated power infrastructure costs, according to Van Nieuwerburgh’s research.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
The companies it owns fall into three categories: accounting, IT services and the built environment, which includes services involved in getting buildings and infrastructure approved, constructed and maintained.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
The BBC has sought comment from India's IT ministry on the restrictions and reported instructions to Meta but has not received a response.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
IT beckoned him, lilting and insistent; delicate music, played by delicate instruments that he could not identify, with one rippling, bell-like phrase running through it in a gold thread of delight.
From "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper
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
I added, “Neither do I. It. . . it just had to be.”
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
Periods in which Wall Street’s favorite stocks underperform so dramatically are rare, and they typically occur when the backdrop for corporate earnings, or the broader economy, is beginning to shift, Kantrowitz and his team said.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
If they are active enough, he’ll enter and look to take advantage of price differences across venues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Congressional investigations can't bring criminal charges, but they can force the subjects to testify and turn over evidence -- which can be referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
It’s not difficult because it’s kind of what they want.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
Working independently, they both revisit the work of Robert Hooke, the microscope observer who came up with the name cell in 1665.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
We have come to believe that it is “more respectful, more enlightened, to let the sick slip through the cracks than to require them to accept treatment,” he writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
While these systems "are normally on a closed network" and "are not supposed to be accessible from the Internet", a number of them ended up being exposed "to anyone with some basic knowledge", he added.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Companies also have to deal with the challenges of integration, spending money to fuse the businesses in ways that will allow them to achieve the stated benefits of the merger.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
So even just to get them to sort of endear an animal that usually gives people a sort of like a reaction of like “ugh,” just that alone is a win for me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
Tribal Chief Lapu Lapu on the island of Mactan was one of them.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
But history shows little relation between a stock’s valuation and its price over the short term.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
That “Ryan’s Daughter” ended up as a complex, costly production owes both to the strenuous location shooting and its maker’s addiction to sweeping effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
“We’re a patient bull for tech,” he said, cautioning about more downside potential before “tech reasserts its leadership.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
The company revived several dances to enchanting effect for its most recent Lincoln Center season, including works by Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine and Kyle Abraham.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Everything about its architecture is bougie and undeniably impressive, from its ornate archways to its stained glass mosaic windows.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Still, investors are worried about delays in the buildout, Rasgon said, while concerns are also growing over the rising levels of debt companies are taking on to fund their AI ambitions.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Elsewhere, both dancers performing as the prankish Puck nearly stole their respective shows, as boldly athletic Jake Roxander and high-flying and hovering Takumi Miyake bolted and breezed about their forest setting with fairyland finesse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Traders in leveraged ETFs can quickly find themselves deep in a hole that’s difficult to climb out from when their bets go the wrong way.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Its women had the aura of elegant Amazons, while their counterpart men—often awhirl like tornados—gained their own prominence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The doctor says Joey needs to be separated from Renato and their daughter, Cynthia.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine star in the Broadway show about the lengths people are willing to go to protect their family and claim what is rightfully theirs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
And keep in mind that influencers have an easier time getting into restaurants with impossible-to-get reservations than people like us do, so our experience wouldn’t be similar to theirs, anyways.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Sometimes, a voter will call the local registrar to request a new one because theirs has not arrived by mail — only to have the original eventually show up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
“No mayor has retained the same police commissioner from the administration prior to theirs since 1964,” she said, referring to Tisch, who was elevated under the previous mayor, Eric Adams.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
He was living in the bush back then, in a cabin about six miles from theirs.
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
