third party

American  

noun

• third parties
  plural

1. any party to an incident, case, quarrel, etc., who is incidentally involved.

2. (in a two-party system) a political party formed as a dissenting or independent group from members of one or both of the two prevailing major parties.

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third party British  

noun

1. a person who is involved by chance or only incidentally in a legal proceeding, agreement, or other transaction, esp one against whom a defendant claims indemnity

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adjective

1. insurance providing protection against liability caused by accidental injury or death of other persons or damage to their property

   third-party insurance

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• third parties
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of third party

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third party

Mia Glaese, vice president of research and safety, wanted to ensure that third party groups wouldn’t be able to view OpenAI’s intellectual property, OpenAI said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

A soft credit check is a legitimate way for a potential lender to assess your eligibility, but that doesn’t mean the third party requesting it is a legitimate lender.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

However, she added there was no evidence to suggest any of the information accessed by Parsons had been passed to a third party.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Garza said he feels no loyalty to either party and wishes there were a third party that showed it actually cared about Latinos and their interests.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

The third party he presumed responsible was the United States government.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

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