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

The company aims to produce thousands of the weapons annually at full rate production, with a target cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit. —Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 27 Oct. 2025

There, interactions between streams of liquid iron generate a magnetic field one quintillion times more powerful than that of an ordinary lab magnet (but thousands of times weaker than the Sun’s). —Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025

Each post, often featuring updates about Ginger the tiger, draws thousands of likes and comments from supporters. —Quinn Clark, jsonline.com, 27 Oct. 2025

Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas’s attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to swaths of territory. —Reuters, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 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