anything
Syllables: an·y·thing/ˈɛn.ɪ.θɪŋ//ˈɛn.i.θɪŋ/
anything pronoun: any object, act, state, event, or fact whatsoever; a thing of any kind; something or other.
Pronoun
anything
- Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatsoever; a thing of any kind; something or other.
- I would not do it for anything.
- Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […] his clerks […] understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- aught
- Expressing an indefinite comparison.
- Perhaps it was this atmosphere of misplacedness and loneliness as much as anything which led her to speak to him one evening in early summer when the office had closed.1916, Edward S. Moffat, Go Forth and Find, pages 81–82
Noun
anything (plural anythings)
- Someone or something of importance.
- How long does it take to turn you actors into good anythings?1986, David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
- So we tried not to talk about first or second anythings until our meeting with the rabbi.2007 May 6, Cindy Chupack, “An Ancient Coda to My 21st-Century Divorce”, in New York Times
Verb
anything (third-person singular simple present anythings, present participle anythinging, simple past and past participle anythinged)
- Used as a placeholder verb for any verb out of a set of related verbs.
- He wasn't cooking, he wasn't sweeping, he wasn't anythinging!
- –I don't want to accompany him! –You never want to anything him!
Adverb
anything (not comparable)
anything meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
anything in Hindi
- any thing of any kind
- कुछ kuch
anything in Tamil
- எதுவும், ஏதாவது, ஏதாவது ஒன்று, சிறிதளவாவது, கொஞ்சமாவது
anything in Marathi
- any thing of any kind
- काहीही kāhīhī, काही पण kāhī paṇ
anything in Urdu
- کچھ, کچھ بھی
More languagesFewer languages
- anything in Bengali
- কিছু kichu
- anything in Telugu
- ఏమైనా ēmainā
- anything in Malayalam
- എന്തും, എന്തെങ്കിലും, ഒന്നും
- anything in Assamese
- একো ekü, আকো akü
- anything in Arabic
- أَيُّ شَيْءٍ ʔayyu šayʔin
- anything in Malay
- apa-apa
- anything in Indonesian
- apa pun, apa saja
Examples of anything in a sentence
- Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
- I will neither be half-uncled, half-respected, nor, in short, half-anythinged, by you.1849, Fanny Hervey Stirling, “Uncle George Declares Himself” (chapter IX), in Fanny Hervey; or, The Mother's Choice, volume I, London...
- Papa and mamma beg to be very kindly remembered to you" — I'm sure the two old savages wouldn't beg to be kindly anythinged, but it looks well that she should say so, doesn't it?1868, Legh Knight, chapter V, in Tonic Bitter, volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, page 80:
Synonyms of anything
Forms of anything
| Pronoun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form (archaic) | any thing |
| Noun | |
| plural | anythings |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | anythings |
| present participle | anythinging |
| past participle | anythinged |
| past | anythinged |
Origin of anything
From Middle English anything, enything, onything, from Late Old English aniþing, from earlier ǣniġ þing (literally “any thing”), equivalent to any + thing.
From Middle English anything, enything, onything, onythynge, from Old English ǣniġe þinga, ǣnġi þinga (literally “by any of things”), from ǣniġe, instrumental form of ǣniġ (“any”) + þinga, genitive plural of þing (“thing”).
Words formed from anything
Phrases with anything
Questions about anything
- What does anything mean?
- Anything means any object, act, state, event, or fact whatsoever; a thing of any kind; something or other.
- What is anything in Hindi?
- Anything in Hindi is कुछ (kuch). See Anything meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use anything in a sentence?
- Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.
- What part of speech is anything?
- Anything can be a pronoun, a noun, a verb or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce anything?
- Anything is pronounced /ˈɛn.ɪ.θɪŋ/ (UK).
Words near anything in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: anything (page history and authors); anything (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); anything (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); কিছু (Bengali) (page history and authors); anything (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); আকো (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-anything.wav, en-us-anything.ogg.
Cite this entry: “anything.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/anything. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.