thousand

[ thou-zuh nd ]

/ ˈθaʊ zənd /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR thousand ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural thou·sands, (as after a numeral) thou·sand.

a cardinal number, 10 times 100.

a symbol for this number, as 1000 or M.

thousands. the numbers between 1000 and 999,999, as in referring to an amount of money: Property damage was in the thousands.

a great number or amount.

Also thousand's place.

(in a mixed number) the position of the fourth digit to the left of the decimal point.
(in a whole number) the position of the fourth digit from the right.

adjective

amounting to 1000 in number.

Nearby words

Origin of thousand

before 900; Middle English; Old English thūsend; cognate with Dutch duizend, Old High German dūsunt, Old Norse thūsund, Gothic thūsindi

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for thousands

In recent months, thousands of people from all walks of life have flooded the streets of our cities.
What Would Happen if I Got in White Cop’s Face?|Goldie Taylor|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Rodriguez now headed home to his kids, as did thousands of other police parents.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos|Michael Daly|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The cap devices on thousands of identical hats glinted in the late morning sun along with the shields worn by each of the cops.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos|Michael Daly|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The gathering of the thousands of cops had been a soul-stirring sight.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos|Michael Daly|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The unspoken question from his son and the thousands of other kids was, “Could it happen to you?”
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos|Michael Daly|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"I fear that the spending of thousands can do no good," said Mr. Low.
Phineas Redux|Anthony Trollope
Meantime, the leader, to whom thousands were looking up, was miserable and alone.
The Eternal City|Hall Caine
He could sink it to a whisper and still be audible, while in open-air meetings he could easily make himself heard by thousands.
Successful Methods of Public Speaking|Grenville Kleiser
Seemingly, as in answer to his question, from toward the front came the sudden roaring of thousands of guns.
Aces Up|Covington Clarke
Involuntarily Morrison, like thousands of others, had screened his sight with his hands after the second flash.
Average Jones|Samuel Hopkins Adams

British Dictionary definitions for thousands

thousand

/ (ˈθaʊzənd) /

noun

the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100See also number (def. 1)

a numeral, 1000, 10³, M, etc, representing this number

(often plural) a very large but unspecified number, amount, or quantitythey are thousands of miles away

(plural) the numbers 2000–9999the price of the picture was in the thousands

the amount or quantity that is one hundred times greater than ten

something represented by, representing, or consisting of 1000 units

maths the position containing a digit representing that number followed by three zerosin 4760, 4 is in the thousand's place

determiner

amounting to a thousanda thousand ships
(as pronoun)a thousand is hardly enough

amounting to 1000 times a particular scientific unit

Related formsRelated prefix: kilo-Related adjective: millenary

Word Origin for thousand

Old English thūsend; related to Old Saxon thūsind, Old High German thūsunt, Old Norse thūsund

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for thousands

thousand

Old English þusend, from Proto-Germanic *thusundi (cf. Old Frisian thusend, Dutch duizend, Old High German dusunt, German tausend, Old Norse þusund, Gothic þusundi).

Related to words in Balto-Slavic (cf. Lithuanian tukstantis, Old Church Slavonic tysashta, Polish tysiąc, Czech tisic), and probably ultimately a compound with indefinite meaning "several hundred" or "a great multitude" (with first element perhaps related to Sanskrit tawas "strong, force").

Used to translate Greek khilias, Latin mille, hence the refinement into the precise modern meaning. There was no general Indo-European word for "thousand." Slang shortening thou first recorded 1867. Thousand island dressing (1916) is presumably named for the region of New York on the St. Lawrence River.

Idioms and Phrases with thousands

thousand

see bat a thousand; by the dozen (thousand); one in a million (thousand); picture is worth a thousand words.

thousand

noun, plural thou·sands, (as after a numeral) thou·sand.

adjective

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Origin of thousand

Examples from the Web for thousands

British Dictionary definitions for thousands

thousand

noun

determiner

Word Origin for thousand

Word Origin and History for thousands

thousand

Idioms and Phrases with thousands

thousand