there

English Online Dictionary. What means there‎? What does there mean?

English

Alternative forms

• (pronunciation spellings): dar, der, dere, thur, thar; dey
• (obsolete): thare

Etymology

From Middle English there, ther, thare, thar, thore, from Old English þēr, þǣr, þār (“there; at that place”), from Proto-West Germanic *þār, from Proto-Germanic *þar (“at that place; there”), from Proto-Indo-European *tó-r (“there”), from demonstrative pronominal base *to- (“the, that”) + adverbial suffix *-r̥.

Cognate with Scots thar, thair (“there”), North Frisian dear, deer, där (“there”), Saterland Frisian deer (“there”), West Frisian dêr (“there”), Dutch daar (“there”), Low German dar (“there”), German da, dar- (“there”), Danish der (“there”), Norwegian der (“there”), Swedish där (“there”), Icelandic þar (“in that place, there”).

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ðɛə/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ðɛɚ/, /ðɛɹ/
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [ðeːɹ]
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ðeː/
  • (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ðiə/
  • (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ðeə/
  • (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ðeɹ/
  • (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /ðɜː(ɹ)/
• (unstressed)
  • (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ðə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ðɚ/
• Homophones: their, they're
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Adverb

there (not comparable)

1. (location) In or at a place or location (stated, implied or otherwise indicated) that is perceived to be away from, or at a relative distance from, the speaker (compare here).
   • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Genesis, 2, viii,

     The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
   1. (figuratively) At that point, stage, etc., visualised as a distinct place.
   2. (as complement of 'be') In a notional place where one will provide support or care; see also be there.

   3. (as complement of 'be') In existence in some place.

   4. (informal, as complement of 'be') In its correct position, so as to be fully and properly fitted or inserted.

   5. (informal) After the name of a person perceived as located 'away' from the speaker, used familiarly to indicate that person.

   6. (dialect) After certain determiners, used to emphasise demonstrative sense; see also them there.

   7. (informal, as complement of 'be') In a notional place or situation of mental soundness and competence; see also all there.

2. (location) To or into a place or location; thither.
   • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Job, 28, vii,

     There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

   1. Into an undesirable topic or subject matter; see also go there.

3. (figuratively) In that matter, relation, etc..

4. (obsolete) Where, there where, in which place.
5. In this world: used to say that someone or something exists; see also pronoun section below.

Usage notes

• Syntactically, the adverb there fulfills two functions:
  • As a demonstrative or exophoric adverb it is typically accompanied by a gesture of pointing to a particular location.

  • As an anaphoric adverb it is used to refer to a location that was previously mentioned.

• The use of there instead of they're (meaning they are) or their (possessive form of they) is a common homophonic error in English writing.
• (to or into that place):
  • There is sometimes used by way of exclamation, calling attention to something, especially to something distant; such as in the phrases There, there!, See there! and Look there!
  • There is often used as an expletive, and in this use, when it introduces a sentence or clause, the verb precedes its subject.
  • There is much used in composition, and often has the sense of a pronoun. See thereabout, thereafter, therefrom, etc.

Synonyms

• (at or in a place): over there, away there (at some distance); yonder (archaic or dialect)
• (to or into that place): over there, away there (at some distance); thither (archaic); yonder (archaic or dialect)

Translations

Interjection

there

1. Used to offer encouragement or sympathy; see also there, there and there now.

2. Used to express victory or completion.

Translations

Noun

there (plural theres)

1. That place (previously mentioned or otherwise implied).
2. That situation; that position.

Translations

Pronoun

there

1. Used as an expletive subject of be in its sense of “exist”, with the semantic, usually indefinite subject being postponed or (occasionally) implied.

   There are two apples on the table. [=Two apples are on the table.]

   There is no way to do it. [=No way to do it exists.]

   Is there an answer? [=Does an answer exist?]

   No, there isn't. [=No, one doesn't exist.]

   • 1908, C. H. Bovill (lyrics), Jerome D. Kern (music), There’s Something Rather Odd About Augustus, song from the musical Fluffy Ruffles,

     It's very sad but all the same, / There’s something rather odd about Augustus.

   • 1909, Leo Tolstoy, translator not mentioned, There are No Guilty People, in The Forged Coupon and Other Stories,

     There was a time when I tried to change my position, which was not in harmony with my conscience; […] .
2. Used with other intransitive verbs of existence, in the same sense, or with other intransitive verbs, adding a sense of existence.

   If x is a positive number, then there exists [=there is] a positive number y less than x.

   There remain several problems with this approach. [=Several problems remain with this approach.]

   Once upon a time, in a now-forgotten kingdom, there lived a woodsman with his wife. [=There was a woodsman, who lived with his wife.]

   There arose a great wind out of the east. [=There was now a great wind, arising in the east.]

   • 1895, Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes: Nursery Songs, XXII: The Tree in the Wood,

     All in a wood there grew a fine tree,

   • 1897, James Baldwin, The Story of Abraham Lincoln: The Kentucky Home, in Four Great Americans,

     Not far from Hodgensville, in Kentucky, there once lived a man whose name was Thomas Lincoln.

   • 1904, Uriel Waldo Cutler, Stories of King Arthur and His Knights, Chapter XXXI: How Sir Launcelot Found the Holy Grail,

     On a night, as he slept, there came a vision unto him, and a voice said, "Launcelot, arise up, and take thine armour, and enter into the first ship that thou shalt find."

3. Used with other verbs, when raised.

   There seems to be some difficulty with the papers. [=It seems that there is some difficulty with the papers.]

   I expected there to be a simpler solution. [=I expected that there would be a simpler solution.]

   There are beginning to be complications. [=It's beginning to be the case that there are complications.]

   There have to be two people at the post.

4. (in combination with certain prepositions, no longer productive) That.

   therefor, thereat, thereunder

5. (colloquial) Appended to words of greeting etc.

   Hi there, young fellow.

   Oh, hello there, Bob, how are you doing?

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Hi there! I’m Anna and I live in Washington, D.C.

Usage notes

• In formal English, the verb agrees with the semantic subject: “there is a tree”, “there are some trees”, “there seems to be a mistake”, “there seem to be some mistakes”, and so on. This is because the "there [form of be]" construction originally used, and could still be said to use, "there" as simply an adverb modifying "to be". However, the syntax is archaic enough that "there" is rarely recognized as an adverb. In colloquial usage, therefore, the verb is often found in the third-person singular form, even when the semantic subject is plural — “there’s some trees”, “there seems to be some mistakes”, "there's a dog and a cat." — but this is often considered incorrect.

Derived terms

• there must be something in the water

Translations

Contraction

there

1. Misspelling of they’re.

Determiner

there

1. Misspelling of their.

Derived terms

See also

References

• “there”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Ehret, Ether, Reeth, ether, rethe, theer, three

Middle English

Determiner

there

1. Alternative form of þeir

Adverb

there

1. where

Pali

Alternative forms

Noun

there

1. inflection of thera (“elder”):
   1. locative singular
   2. accusative plural

Adjective

there

1. inflection of thera (“elder”):
   1. locative singular masculine/neuter
   2. accusative plural masculine