third-party

adjective third-par·ty \ ˈthərd-ˈpär-tē \

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

Definition of third-party

1 : of, relating to, or involving a third party

third-party insurance

2 : of, relating to, or being software that is created by a vendor to be compatible with the products of another vendor

See third-party defined for English-language learners

First Known Use of third-party

1901

third party

noun

Definition of third party

1 : a person other than the principals

a third party to a divorce proceeding

insurance against injury to third parties

2 a : a major political party operating over a limited period of time in addition to two other major parties in a nation or state normally characterized by a two-party system

b : minor party

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Recent Examples of third party from the Web

Lawmakers grilled the Facebook CEO for about 10 hours over the course of two days in a hearing prompted by the exposure of millions of users' data to third parties.

— CBS News, "Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince on "sensible" tech regulation, creating a safer internet," 12 Apr. 2018
Zuckerberg on Wednesday admitted his own data had been sold to malicious third parties.

— emily stewart, Vox, "The privacy question Mark Zuckerberg kept dodging," 11 Apr. 2018
Zuckerberg performs spin control Two major storm clouds currently hover over Facebook: first, the rise of fake news; and second, information that was collected by Facebook and provided to third parties.

— mark hachman, PCWorld, "How Zuckerberg will prevent future Cambridge Analytica scandals at Facebook: Rein in third-party apps," 4 Apr. 2018
No Grindr user information is sold to third parties.

— aaron randle, kansascity, "Popular gay dating app was sharing its users' HIV status. Now it's vowing to change | The Kansas City Star," 3 Apr. 2018
No Grindr user information is sold to third parties.

— cyrus farivar, Ars Technica, "Grindr won’t share users’ HIV status with app contractors after outcry," 3 Apr. 2018
What happens if the subject wants to turn his weapons over to a responsible third party instead of to police?

— rafael olmeda, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Police begin to seize guns while questions remain about new law," 30 Mar. 2018
In 2014, Facebook changed their policy so that third party apps could no longer access information about a person's friends unless those friends also gave permission, but the damage had already been done.

— madeline buxton, refinery29.com, "Mark Zuckerberg Finally Speaks Out About Cambridge Analytica," 21 Mar. 2018
The problem, according to Facebook, is that Kogan then passed the information on to third parties such as Cambridge Analytica, which was using it for political purposes — a violation of the company’s policies.

— kevin diaz, San Antonio Express-News, "Cruz campaign says it was assured Cambridge Analytica’s data was legal," 20 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'third party.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.