How do you use the word "thing" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "thing": That's the stupidest thing I've ever said. Innocence is a beautiful thing.

Thing Meaning

/ˈθɪŋ/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounThat which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept.

nounA word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity.

Sentence Examples

That's the stupidest thing I've ever said.

Innocence is a beautiful thing.

Can you pass me that thing over there?

CEFR Practice Quiz

The box contained a small, shiny ____ that I could not identify.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The first ____ I do every morning is have a large glass of water to help me feel more awake today.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tenk-? Proto-Indo-European *tenkóm Proto-Germanic *þingą Proto-West Germanic *þing Old English þing Middle English thing English thing From Middle English thing, from Old English þing, from Proto-West Germanic *þing, from Proto-Germanic *þingą. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Ding (“thing”), West Frisian ting, ding (“thing”), Dutch ding (“thing”), German Low German Ding (“thing”), German Ding (“thing”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ting (“thing”), Faroese ting (“parliament, assembly”), Icelandic þing (“congress, assembly”). The word originally meant "assembly", then came to mean a specific issue discussed at such an assembly, and ultimately came to mean most broadly "an object". Compare Latin rēs, also meaning "legal matter", and same transition from Latin causa (“legal matter”) to "thing" in Romance languages. Modern use to refer to a Germanic assembly is likely influenced by cognates (from the same Proto-Germanic root) like Old Norse þing (“thing”), Danish ting, Swedish ting, and Old High German ding with this meaning.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us..." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:

"The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […], "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention." — 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:

"After a slow start it became the thing to do; 'everyone went to see Pbi-Pbi, no one talked of anything but Pbi-Pbi[…]'" — 2002, Roger Nichols, The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917-1929, Univ of California Press, →ISBN:

"Now I don't know how many of those male flight attendants are male lesbians -- you know... (Laughter) Well, it's a thing. I mean, there's a -- it's a -- there's a feminist professor down in Tampa who's discovered a male lesbian" — 1993 November 24, The Rush Limbaugh Show (radio), Rush Limbaugh (actor):

"Frequent statements of the kind “'Race' is not a thing”, “'races,' put simply, do not exist”, “'race' (as each essay subtly shows) simply does not exist” aim to discredit Todorov's claim that a relapse to an ontology of race is at place […]" — 2014, Marianna Papastephanou, Torill Strand, Anne Pirrie, Philosophy as a Lived Experience:

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