THE THIRD PERSON definition | Cambridge English Dictionary
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English (US)

Meaning of the third person in English

the third person
noun [ S ]
us
/ˌθɝːd ˈpɝː.sən/ uk
/ˌθɜːd ˈpɜː.sən/
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B2
the form of a verb or pronoun that is used about another person you are speaking about or writing about
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third-person
adjective
us
/ˈθɝːdˌpɜ˞ː.sən/ uk
/ˈθɜːdˌpɜː.sən/
showing that someone is speaking or writing about another person:
The third-person pronoun distances the author from the character it denotes.
telling a story using the pronouns "he" or "she":
The novel alternates between a third-person narrative and notes taken from a court case.
used to refer to a video game in which the player can see their avatar (= character) on the screen:
The game is a third-person shooter since Lara is always visible.
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first-person
(Definition of the third person from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

third person | Intermediate English

third person
noun [ U ]
us
/ˈθɜrd ˈpɜr·sən/
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grammar
the form of pronouns and verbs that people use when speaking or writing about other people:
"He," "him," and "his" are third person singular pronouns, and "they," "them," and "their" are third person plural pronouns.
Novels are usually written in the third person.
(Definition of the third person from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of the third person

the third person
The third-person space is not quite as active.
From Fast Company
The way third-person omniscient voice works for each of them is different, and relates to their personalities.
From The Verge
He tells their tales in what might be called a conventional, close third-person, "realistic" vein.
From NPR
I begin this investigation from a third-person perspective.
From Huffington Post
Obviously we feel we did nothing wrong; but give us a frank, third-person perspective.
From Slate Magazine
This is a must-buy for third-person action fans.
From Ars Technica
A rich literature exists on the myriad ways in which the third-person effect has predicated calls for speech controls and media regulation.
From Ars Technica
Players will see a cockpit view of the action on the gamepad screen and a more cinematic, third-person view on their television screen.
From TIME
But, much like in a game, they were also able to toggle between first and third-person point-of-view.
From The Verge
So one of the things we think about in the action group is how can we bring great third-person multiplayer gaming.
From Fast Company
My charter is to grow our market share in the action category, which we think of as third-person as opposed to first person.
From Fast Company
Within six months, we had a prototype of a third-person action adventure game.
From VentureBeat
Those who read it with a first-person perspective had more trouble remembering the story four days later compared to the third-person readers.
From Ars Technica
The movie is filmed like a third-person confessional about the lives of others.
From The New Yorker
Smite zooms down into the action and features a third-person camera that follows characters onto the battleground.
From VentureBeat
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of the third person, third-person, third person?
 

Translations of the third person

in Chinese (Traditional)
（動詞或代詞的）第三人稱, 第三人稱的, （文體）用第三人稱敘述的…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（动词或代词的）第三人称, 第三人称的, （文体）用第三人称叙述的…
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in Spanish
la tercera persona, en tercera persona…
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in Portuguese
a terceira pessoa…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
in Russian
（文法）三人称…
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(dilbilgisi) üçüncü şahıs…
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la tercera persona…
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ضَمير الغائب…
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trzecia osoba…
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3인칭…
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la terza persona…
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третье лицо (в грамматике)…
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the thing to do idiom
the thinking goes phrase
the thinking woman's/man's crumpet idiom
the third degree idiom
the third person
the Third Way
the Third World
the thought crosses someone's mind idiom
the thought police

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