Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- pro. Used to refer to the person or thing present, nearby, or just mentioned: This is my cat. These are my tools.
- pro. Used to refer to what is about to be said: Now don't laugh when you hear this.
- pro. Used to refer to the present event, action, or time: said he'd be back before this.
- pro. Used to indicate the nearer or the more immediate one: This is mine and that is yours.
- adj. Being just mentioned or present in space, time, or thought: She left early this morning.
- adj. Being nearer or more immediate: this side and that side.
- adj. Being about to be stated or described: Just wait till you hear this story.
- adj. Informal Used as an emphatic substitute for the indefinite article: looking for this book of recipes.
- adv. To this extent; so: never stayed out this late.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- That is now present or at hand: a demonstrative adjective used to point out with particularity a person or thing that is present in place or in thought. It denotes— Some person or thing that is present or near in place or time, or is nearer in place or time than some other person or thing, or has just been mentioned or referred to, and is therefore opposed to or the correlative of that: as, this city was founded five hundred years ago, or one hundred years earlier than that (city); this day; this time of night; these words.
- Time just past or just at hand; the last or the next. The reference, whether to past or to future, is determined by the circumstances; this evening may mean either the evening now approaching, or next to come, or the evening now present, or the evening just past: as, it has occurred twice this year; I shall take care not to fail this (next) time. In this connection this is sometimes used for these, the sum being reckoned up, as it were, in a total.
- This person or thing. It denotes—Some person or thing actually present or at hand: as, is this your coat? Who is this?
- Something that has just preceded or has been mentioned or referred to.
- Emphatically, something that is to be immediately said or done: as, Let me tell you this: I shall lend you no more money.
- Elliptically, this person, place, state, time, position, circumstance, or the like: as, I shall leave this [place or town] to-morrow; this [state of affairs] is very sad; I shall abstain from wine from this [time] on; by this [time] we had arrived at the house.
- When opposed to that, this refers to the person or thing that is nearer, that to the person or thing that is more distant; so, with things that have just been expressed, this refers to the thing last mentioned (and therefore nearer in time to the speaker), and that to the thing first mentioned (as being more remote).
- For this; thus.
Wiktionary
- The (thing) here (used in indicating something or someone nearby).
- The known (thing) (used in indicating something or someone just mentioned).
- The known (thing) (used in indicating something or someone about to be mentioned).
- A known (thing) (used in first mentioning a person or thing that the speaker does not think is known to the audience). Compare with "a certain ...".
- adv. To the degree or extent indicated.
- pro. The thing, item, etc. being indicated.
- n. philosophy Something being indicated that is here; one of these.
- interj. Internet slang Indicates the speaker's strong approval or agreement with the previous material.
GNU Webster's 1913
- prep. As a demonstrative pronoun,
this denotes something that is present or near in place or time, or something just mentioned, or that is just about to be mentioned. - prep. As an adjective,
this has the same demonstrative force as the pronoun, but is followed by a noun.
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English þis (neuter demonstrative), from North Sea Germanic base *þa-, from Proto-Germanic *þat, from Proto-Indo-European *tód, extended form of demonstrative base *to-; + North Sea Germanic definitive suffix -s, from Proto-Indo-European *só (“this, that”). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“If you've been following the news this week on hot dogs and choking, it's likely you have an opinion on the suggestion to "redesign" this popular kids 'food, particularly if you have young children.”
Consumer Reports: Hot dogs under fire: Doctors push for stronger labeling
“It makes the psychological analysis an end point or the penultimate point before, "and this is stupid, so shut up" when literary analysis starts out in the psychological world presented in the text and then moves outward to consider why the author created the scene/world, and why it was portrayed _this_ way and not _that_ way, or what it may mean that this scene parallels or contrasts another scene somewhere else in the text.”
“A quick note before I log off for a softball game later this evening: As you have noticed over the last few months..this blog has been all over the place.”
“Gosh, you don't even have to dig to see the basis of this one..this is not a positive "come together" group.”
“So if Hillary really has all this experience, why isn't she talking about * this*?”
“I agree that this article is basically Spencer deciding "I think some women are like * this*, and that's CREEPY, and they suuuuck, so I'll write an article about it," and NYO is like "sex = pageviews, LOL," but ....”
“Diary Entry by kwalsh (about the author) yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = '"Israel disputes this" no it doesn\'t'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Most comments in the media about settlement construction in the occupied territories which state the settlements are illegal under international law end with comment \'Israel disputes this\'.”
“But this story from UPI, “Swine flu-HIV could devastate human race,” this week is a great example of where health journalism should never tread — into the realms of misinformation.”
“And if one is arguing, as Josh is in this comment, that complaining about the rules is silly, WHY is he downplaying * this* particular rule, the one that is the ONLY real purpose to the superdelegates: they DON'T have to vote the way the rest of the delegates do.”
Hillary-Backer Evan Bayh: Super-Delegates Should Back Hillary Because Of Electoral College
“I got another email from my source and he wants to add more stuff to this so that everyone knows he really has seen the movie..this DOES INCLUDE SPOILERS!”
Super Early ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Review! Updated with Spoilers | We Are Movie Geeks
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘this’.
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EN - Glasgow stop list
Words to be replaced by a paragraph mark if you are after terms and MWEs.
yours, yourself, yet, your, without, you, within, will, yourselves, would, why, with and 291 more...
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POL - campaign tokenisms
Positive words and vague promises. THE words and expressions to use when you want to win over the masses or just don't know what to say.
"CAPITAL" stands for the administrative capital...grow, greatest country, greatest, grow the economy, great nation, great decisions, great, government, great NATIONAL su..., good times, good job, good and generous... and 751 more...
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everything
everythin?
a, i, aardvark, abdominals, any, anti-, ash, actuall, actually, add, abs, ass and 43 more...
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Words
Just words!
enjoyed, quiet breath, my jacket torn to..., daze, missing angel juan, had, there are these t..., called, buffalo, sun, word, words and 14 more...
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broken
unable, to, complete, request, sorry, something, has, gone, terribly, wrong, When, the and 35 more...
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core words
my, I, mine, your, his, hers, him, her, their, theirs, our, ours and 34 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 215 more...
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Resident Pipsiculturalist Makes Huge ...
See comments on pipsiculture and homosexuality, which have nothing to do with each other except that I read comments on them at around the same time on the same day.
See also the list ...heterosexuality, homosexuality, agriculture, argumentative, that, article, thus, make, do, the, interesting, like and 106 more...
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edwardvielmetti's Words
wordhord, wordhoard, wordy, wordie, wiki, toriokyo, superpatron, vacuum, crazy, crazybusy, a2b3, 48104 and 220 more...
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bootload's Words
grouse, beaut, ripper, gassit, hack, hacking, twit, spon, goon, rosella, magpie, galah and 184 more...
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Programming
class, function, method, instance, value, variable, boolean, if, else, while, for, elseif and 95 more...
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adamogiovane's Words
older woman, younger man, age gap relationship, non-fiction, sensuality, relationship, life, sex, love, hugs, kisses, breast and 147 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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loinfruit's Words
buddy, hungry, hug, want, you, i, mommy, school, ballet, sign, sign language, language and 170 more...
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aparrish's Words
the, this, and, a, that, i, me, you, him, her, she, he and 96 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for this.

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