themselves
themselves Lexical Profile
themselves Game Scores & Validity
• pronoun
Used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a group of people, animals, or things previously mentioned as the subject of the clause.
"The students organized the entire charity event by themselves."
Used as an intensive pronoun to emphasize a plural subject or a specific group of people or things.
"The authors themselves were surprised by the sudden success of the book."
Used reflexively or intensively to refer to a single person of unspecified or nonbinary gender when 'they' or an indefinite pronoun (such as 'everyone' or 'someone') is the antecedent.
"Everyone should give themselves enough time to prepare for the exam."
Their normal, healthy, or customary state of mind or physical condition.
"After a long week of travel, the children were tired and not quite themselves."
Word Nuance & Usage
When referring to a single person of unspecified gender ('singular they'), 'themself' is increasingly accepted in modern usage, though 'themselves' remains standard in formal writing. Avoid the nonstandard dialectal form 'theirselves'.
• Rhymes for themselves
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Middle English as a compound of the objective pronoun 'them' (from Old Norse 'þeim') and 'selves', replacing the earlier 'hemself'.