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Definition of "it" [it]

  • Used to refer to that one previously mentioned. Used of a nonhuman entity; an animate being whose sex is unspecified, unknown, or irrelevant; a group of objects or individuals; an action; or an abstraction: polished the table until it shone; couldn't find out who it was; opened the meeting by calling it to order. (pronoun)
  • Used as the subject of an impersonal verb: It is snowing. (pronoun)
  • Used as an anticipatory subject or object: Is it certain that they will win? (pronoun)
  • Used as an anticipatory subject to emphasize a term that is not itself a subject: It was on Friday that all the snow fell. (pronoun)
  • Used to refer to a general condition or state of affairs: She couldn't stand it. (pronoun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "it" in a sentence
  • "The knife didn't fit in your hand like any knife though,  it fit like the woodworker sanded it to the lines and curves of your own palm."
  • "“Contrary to the talk [of the law's critics], ” York declared, “it is a reasonable, limited, carefully crafted measure ... that went to great lengths to make sure it is constitutional."
  • "'The soundtrack in my head is Roy Orbison singing \ "It\'s over, it\'s ooooooover, \" and it doesn\'t matter that the \ "it\" for him was a love affair and not a college app."