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

Moore couldn’t believe it, nor could any of his teammates, coaches or the thousands of Colts fans in attendance at Lucas Oil Stadium who rained boos on the referees (who also appeared to miss a delay of game penalty on Houston before the snap). —James Boyd, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025

Tech billionaire Elon Musk announced that Starlink would be available in affected regions of Sumatra, Indonesia – where flooding has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes – until the end of December. —MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Dec. 2025

Here, tens of thousands of lights instantly flip on for arguably Southern California’s most memorable Christmas light display. —Todd Martens, Boston Herald, 30 Nov. 2025

Another disaster followed in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at the Beirut port detonated in an explosion that blasted through the surrounding neighborhoods, killing 218 people, wounding thousands more and causing billions of dollars in damage. —CBS News, 30 Nov. 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