Paine

American  

[peyn] / peɪn /

noun

1. Albert Bigelow 1861–1937, U.S. author and editor.

2. Robert Treat 1731–1814, U.S. jurist and statesman.

3. Thomas, 1737–1809, U.S. patriot and writer on government and religion, born in England.

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Paine British  

/ peɪn /

noun

1. Thomas. 1737–1809, American political pamphleteer, born in England. His works include the pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and Crisis (1776–83), supporting the American colonists' fight for independence; The Rights of Man (1791–92), a justification of the French Revolution; and The Age of Reason (1794–96), a defence of deism

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Example Sentences

Tuition at Paine College wasn’t easy on the family.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

Thus in 1776, even Thomas Paine, a religious skeptic, drew from the Bible to make his famous case for American Independence.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Mr. Paine highlights technological breakthroughs as well, such as the feats of hydraulic engineering in China that created water routes through the country’s vast interior as early as the fifth century B.C.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

However, Paine believes that even with the hard work and multiple projects the team juggles, the grandeur of the Oscars makes it “special to be part of.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

His books stood neatly along the glassed-in shelves of four vaultlike oak bookcases: the collected Shakespeare, Jefferson’s essays, Thoreau, Paine, Rousseau, Crevecoeur, Locke, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Dickens, Tolstoy.

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