Thursday
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does Thursday mean? Thursday is the weekday between Wednesday and Friday. In much of North and South America, where most countries (including the U. S. and Canada) consider the calendar week to begin on Sunday, Thursday is the fifth day of the week. (In other places, where the week is considered to begin on Saturday or Monday, Thursday is the sixth or fourth day of the week.)Regardless of when the week officially begins, in many places Thursday is considered the fourth day of the workweek, the five-day span from Monday to Friday during which many people work (with Saturday and Sunday considered the weekend). People famously love Friday because it’s when the workweek ends and the weekend begins, and Thursday is often thought of as being almost Friday. The word Thursdays can be used as an adverb meaning every Thursday or on Thursdays, as in I work Thursdays or The shop is closed Thursdays. To indicate the general time of day during which something will happen on a Thursday, the word can be followed by the general time, as in Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening, and Thursday night. Example: At least it’s Thursday already—only one day of work between now and the weekend!
Etymology
Origin of Thursday
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English Thursdæg, from Old Danish Thūrsdagr, literally, “Thor's day”; replacing Old English Thunres dæg; cognate with Dutch donderdag, German Donnerstag (all representing Germanic translation of Late Latin diēs Jovis ). See Thor, thunder, day
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.
As of Thursday, South Korea’s total market capitalization according to FactSet was $4.6 trillion versus $4.1 trillion for Canada.
From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026
First-quarter revenue at the world’s top burger company increased 9% to $6.52 billion from a year earlier, McDonald’s reported Thursday, outpacing analysts’ forecasts.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
South Western Railway, CrossCountry, Southern Trains, Gatwick Express, the London Overground and Thameslink all saw cancellations and delays on Thursday morning after the issue affected communications between trains and signallers.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
China, Japan, Hong Kong and India, after its benchmark index notched up another all-time high Thursday.
From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026
Every Thursday night, Fred and the other dogs from the show would hang out in the living room of the Brooklyn brownstone and watch Dog Squad together.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
