third person

American  

[thurd pur-suhn] / ˈθɜrd ˈpɜr sən /

noun

1. the grammatical person used by the speaker of an utterance in referring to anyone or anything other than the speaker or the one third person singular or ones third person plural being addressed.

2. a pronoun or verb form in the third person, as she or goes in English, or a set of such forms.

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third person British  

noun

1. a grammatical category of pronouns and verbs used when referring to objects or individuals other than the speaker or his addressee(s)

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Etymology

Origin of third person

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third person

The remains of a third person have been found at the location and are being examined.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

Yang: We are experiencing something in an acute way that I think everyone is experiencing, which is we are seeing ourselves in the third person.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

A third person linked to a German national who died is also due to be evacuated.

From BBC ● May 5, 2026

A third person, a German woman, died May 2, and a British man was medically evacuated on April 27 to South Africa, where he also tested positive for hantavirus.

From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026

It’s in the third person, and filled with zombie nouns like Extreme Exposure and passives like are more easily affected.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker