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

And none of it is like what’s seen the long string of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, including one released this past weekend, that focus on reviving dinosaurs, giant reptiles, that have been extinct for tens of millions of years, instead of a few hundreds or thousands. —David Bloom, Forbes.com, 8 July 2025

Still, all three—and thousands more under TikTok’s #fashionispolitical page—continue to show up. —Daisy Maldonado, Vogue, 8 July 2025

Another cocktail with island connections is the rum swizzle, invented in the venerable Swizzle Inn, where the ceiling is hung with thousands of business cards and dollar bills left by departing patrons. —Robb Report Studio, Robb Report, 8 July 2025

But some reviewed by Ars got tens of thousands of views, as screenshots bled over to other social media platforms. —ArsTechnica, 8 July 2025

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