different between another vs themselves

English

Alternative forms

• anoda (Jamaican English)
• anotha, anotha' (AAVE- eye dialect)
• nother (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English another, equivalent to an +? other.

Pronunciation

• (UK, unstressed) IPA^(key): /??n?ð.?(?)/
• (UK, stressed) IPA^(key): /æ?n?ð.?(?)/
• (US, unstressed) IPA^(key): /??n?ð.?/
• (US, stressed) IPA^(key): /æ?n?ð.?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(r)
• Hyphenation: an?oth?er

Determiner

another

1. One more/further, in addition to a former number; a second or additional one, similar in likeness or in effect.

   • Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].
2. Not the same; different.
3. Any or some; any different person, indefinitely; anyone else; someone else.

Usage notes

• As a fused head construction another may have a possessive another's (plural: others, or possessive plural other). It is much used in opposition to one; as, one went one way, another went another. It is also used with one in a reciprocal sense; as, "love one another," that is, let each love the other or others.
  • John Milton

• Another is usually used with a singular noun, but constructions such as "another five days", "another twenty miles", "another few people", "another fifty dollars" are valid too.
• Sometimes, the word whole is inserted into another by the common process of tmesis, giving: "a whole nother." This is a colloquialism that some recommend avoiding in formal writing. The prescribed alternatives are "a whole other" or "another whole".
• There may be ambiguity: "another" may or may not imply "replacement", e.g. "I need another chair." may mean "My chair needs to be replaced." or "I need an additional chair [and I need to keep my existing chair]."

Derived terms

Related terms

• other

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: anedda

Translations

Pronoun

another

1. An additional one of the same kind.

2. One that is different from the current one.

3. One of a group of things of the same kind.

References

• another in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• on Earth, on earth

Middle English

Alternative forms

• anoþer, a noþer

Etymology

From an other, appearing as a single word starting from the 13th or 14th century.

Pronoun

another

1. another

Descendants

• English: another
  • Jamaican Creole: anedda
• Yola: anoor

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ð?m?s?lvz/, /ð?m?s?lvz/
• Hyphenation: them?selves

Pronoun

themselves (personal pronoun)

1. The reflexive case of they, the third-person plural personal pronoun. The group of people, animals, or objects previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).

   (reflexively):

   (after a preposition):

   (for emphasis):
2. The reflexive case of they, the third-person singular personal pronoun. The single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).

   (reflexively):

   (after a preposition):

   (for emphasis):

   • 1611, King James Bible, Philippians 2.3:

     Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:themselves.

Usage notes

• Regarding the use of singular themselves (as opposed to themself or e.g. himself), see the usage notes about they, themself, and he, respectively.

Synonyms

• theirselves (nonstandard)
• (singular): themself (non-gender-specific), theirself (non-gender-specific, but nonstandard), himself, herself (gender-specific)

Translations

See also