Definitions for The
stressed ði; unstressed before a consonant ðə, unstressed before a vowel ðithe

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Thearticle.

   Etymology: de, Dutch.

   1. The article noting a particular thing.

   Your son has paid a soldier’s debt;
   He only liv’d but till he was a man,
   The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’d,
   In the unshrinking station where he fought,
   But like a man he dy’d. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   He put him in mind of the long pretence he had to be groom of the bed chamber, for the which he could not chuse but say, that he had the queen’s promise. Edward Hyde, b. viii.

   Unhappy slave, and pupil to a bell,
   Unhappy till the last, the kind releasing knell. Abraham Cowley.

   I’ll march the muses Hannibal. Abraham Cowley.

   The fair example of the heav’nly lark,
   Thy fellow poet, Cowley, mark;
   Above the stars let thy bold musick sound,
   Thy humble nest build on the ground. Abraham Cowley.

   The fruit
   Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
   Brought death into the world. John Milton.

   Night shades the groves, and all in silence lie,
   All but the mournful philomel and I. Alexander Pope.

   2. Before a vowel e is commonly cut off in verse.

   Who had th’ especial engines been to rear
   His fortunes up unto the state they were. Daniel.

   Th’ adorning thee with so much art
   Is but a barb’rous skill,
   ’Tis like the pois’ning of a dart,
   Too apt before to kill. Abraham Cowley.

   3. Sometimes he is cut off.

   In this scale worth, in t’other gold does lie. Abraham Cowley.

   4. In the following passage the is used according to the French idiom.

   As all the considerable governments among the Alps are commonwealths, so it is a constitution the most adapted of any to the poverty of these countries. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

WikipediaRate this definition:2.9 / 59 votes

1. The

   The (listen) is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners or readers. It is the only definite article in English. The is the most commonly used word in the English language, accounting for seven percent of all words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of either genders. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:3.4 / 118 votes

1. Theverb

   see Thee

2. The

   a word placed before nouns to limit or individualize their meaning

3. Theadverb

   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

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:3.0 / 48 votes

1. The

   the, or (when emphatic) thē, demons. pron. usually called the definite article, used to denote a particular person or thing: also to denote a species. [A.S. the, rarely used as nom. masc. of def. art., but common as an indeclinable relative. Cf. That.]

2. The

   the, adv. used before comparatives, as, 'the more the better.' [A.S. thý, by that, by that much, the instrumental case of the def. art.]

The Roycroft DictionaryRate this definition:3.2 / 24 votes

1. the

   An article, aristocratic by birth and breeding, but which degenerates into an adjective in the sentence, "He is THE man of the hour."

Editors ContributionRate this definition:3.1 / 7 votes

1. the

   A word to create a form of grammar or expression of language.

   The joy we feel is amazing, we are so grateful to each other for what we all contribute.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on April 24, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:2.9 / 17 votes

1. the

   Song lyrics by the -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by the on the Lyrics.com website.

2. THE

   What does THE stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the THE acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. THE

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, The is ranked #57914 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The The surname appeared 351 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname The.
   
   73.7% or 259 total occurrences were Asian.
   14.5% or 51 total occurrences were White.
   8.8% or 31 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   1.7% or 6 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'The' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'The' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1

Anagrams for The »

1. het

How to pronounce The?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say The in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of The in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of The in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Popularity rank by frequency of use