1. the (used, esp. before a noun, with a specifying or particularizing effect, as opposed to the indefinite or generalizing force of the indefinite article a or an): the book you gave me.
2. the (used to mark a noun as indicating something well-known or unique): the Alps.
3. the (used with or as part of a title): the Duke of Wellington.
4. the (used to mark a noun as indicating the best-known, most approved, most important, etc.): the place to ski.
5. the (used to mark a noun as being used generically): The dog is a quadruped.
6. the (used in place of a possessive pronoun, to note a part of the body or a personal belonging): He was shot in the arm.
7. the (used before adjectives that are used substantively, to note an individual, a class or number of individuals, or an abstract idea): to visit the sick; from the sublime to the ridiculous.
8. the (used to indicate one particular decade of a lifetime or of a century): the sixties.
9. the enough: She didn't have the courage to leave.
10. the (used distributively, to note any one separately); a or an: at one dollar the pound.
11. (adv.)the (used to modify an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree and to signify “in or by that,”“on that account,”“in or by so much,” or “in some or any degree”): He's been on vacation and looks the better for it.
12. the (used in correlative constructions to modify an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree, in one instance with relative force and in the other with demonstrative force, and signifying “by how much &ellipsis; by so much” or “in what degree &ellipsis; in that degree”): the more the merrier.
Etymology: (bef. 900; ME; OE thē, th&ymacr;, instrumental case of demonstrative pronoun. Cf. that , lest)
1. the indicates a single person or thing when you know about it, or when there is only one the President of the United States; She closed the book.; The dog was barking.; the 2008 Olympic games.
2. the indicates a type rather than a particular thing The cheetah is the world's fastest land animal.; Do you know how to play the piano?
3. the used to explain which thing you are referring to Is that the guy you like?; the building next to the post office
4. the indicates a particular date the 11th of January/January the 11th; the 1980s
5. the used before geographical names the Rocky Mountains; the Indian Ocean
6. the used with an adjective to make a plural noun representing a group of people The Chinese are hosting the meetings.; benefits for the unemployed
7. the enough for a purpose I didn't have the courage to tell her.
8. the the more, less, higher, etc. .... the more, less, higher, etc. indicates one thing that changes creates changes in another thing The higher gas prices go, the less we drive.; The older I get, the more I know what I want.
Definition of 'the'
Webster Dictionary
1. (adverb)the by that; by how much; by so much; on that account; -- used before comparatives; as, the longer we continue in sin, the more difficult it is to reform
2. the a word placed before nouns to limit or individualize their meaning
3. (verb)the see Thee
Definitions of 'the'
The Roycroft Dictionary
the An article, aristocratic by birth and breeding, but which degenerates into an adjective in the sentence, "He is THE man of the hour."
Definitions of the 
Afrikaans: die
Arabic: أداة التَّعريف: تُسْتَعْم
Bulgarian: определителен член
Brazilian: o/a
Czech: ten, ta, to, ti, ty, ta
German: der/die/das
Danish: den; det; -en; -et
Greek: ο, η, το, οι, τα
Spanish: el, la, los, las
Estonian: (määrav artikkel)
Farsi: حرف معرفه
French: l', le, la, les
Hebrew: הַ-
Hindi: दी, जब स्पष्टत: प्रकट हो“
Croatian: određeni član, koji određ
Hungarian: a, az
Indonesian: kata depan
Icelandic: -(i)nn,–(i)n, –(i)ð
Italian: il, lo, la
Japanese: その
Korean: 그
Lithuanian: tas
Latvian: tas
Malay: yang
Dutch: de, het
Norwegian: -en,–a/-en, –et; –ene, –e
Polish: ten
Portuguese: o/a
Romanian: ‑l, -a, ‑i, -le
Russian: этот (эта), тот (та)
Slovak: (člen určitý) ten, tá, to
Slovenian: ta, tisti
Serbian: taj
Swedish: motsvaras i sv. av best. 
Thai: คำนำหน้านามชี้เฉพาะ
Turkish: Not: Bir takım ya da cüml
Taiwanese: 用於指已知的事物
Ukrainian: вказує на те, що даний пр
Urdu: حرف تعريف
Vietnamese: dùng để chỉ người, vật đã
Chinese: 用于指已知的事物
