thousand

noun

thou·​sand ˈthau̇-zᵊn(d) 

plural thousands or thousand

1

: a number equal to 10 times 100 see Table of Numbers

2

: a very large number

thousands of ants

thousand adjective

thousandfold

ˈthau̇-zᵊn(d)-ˌfōld 

adjective or adverb

thousandth

ˈthau̇-zᵊn(t)th 

adjective or noun

Examples of thousand in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Torus says thousands of GPUs are already deployed in Foundry units and plans to increase that number to more than 47,000 by the end of 2027. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 12 Nov. 2026

Russian aggression has spurred Armenia and Moldova to look westward, and hundreds of thousands of young Russian men have fled the country to avoid military conscription while over a thousand Western companies have left. — Stephen E. Biegun, Foreign Affairs, 11 Nov. 2026

Hoogstraten said the Potawatomi lived along Lake Michigan in northeast Lake County and North Shore suburbs for thousands of years before people of European descent arrived in the area. — Steve Sadin, Chicago Tribune, 11 Nov. 2026

This, the reasoning went, would allow the government to cut thousands of needless bureaucrats while giving veterans more choices if the VA can’t provide the care. — Eric Umansky, ProPublica, 11 Nov. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English thūsend; akin to Old High German dūsunt thousand, Lithuanian tūkstantis, and probably to Sanskrit tavas strong, Latin tumēre to swell — more at thumb entry 1

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing thousand

• a picture is worth a thousand words
• bat a thousand
• never/not in a thousand/million/billion years
• thousand-legger

Kids Definition

thousand

noun

thou·​sand ˈthau̇z-ᵊn(d) 

plural thousands or thousand

1

: a number equal to 10 times 100 see number

2

: a very large number

thousands of ants

thousand adjective