itself
UK/ɪtˈsɛlf/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ɪtˈself/
itself pronoun: it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.
Pronoun
itself (the third person singular, neuter, personal pronoun, the reflexive form of it, masculine himself, feminine herself, gender-neutral themself, plural themselves)
- it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject
- When the opportunity presented itself, no feasible course of action suggested itself (to us).
- The researchers posit that something they call the “hipster effect” asserts itself in human populations no matter how individualistic we imagine ourselves to be, because it’s individuality itself that sparks conformity.2014 December 2, David DiSalvo, “Are You Vulnerable to the Hipster Effect?”, in Psychology Today, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2025
- it; used to intensify the subject, especially to emphasize that it is the only participant in the predicate
- The door itself is quite heavy.
- Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all melancholy fits; a charm,as Peter de la Seine and many other writers affirme,a banquet it ſelfe;he gives inſtance in diſcontented Menelaus that was ſo often freed by Helenas faire face: and ʰTully, 3 Tusc. cites Epicurus as a chiefe...1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for...
- it; used to refer back to an earlier subject
- The oil by degrees gets covered with a curdy mass, which after some time settles to the bottom, while itself becomes limpid and colorless.1842, Andrew Ure, A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines
itself meaning in Arabic
itself in Arabic
- (reflexive) it
- نَفْسُهُ nafsuhu, نَفْسُهَا nafsuhā
- (emphatic) it
- نَفْسُهُ nafsuhu, نَفْسُهَا nafsuhā
Examples of itself in a sentence
- Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age, sometimes age just shows up all by itself.
- The conference itself went very well. The party afterwards, however, was a disaster.
- The long history of the past does not lend itself to a simple black and white interpretation.
Synonyms of itself
Forms of itself
| reflexive-of | it |
|---|---|
| masculine | himself |
| feminine | herself |
| gender-neutral | themself |
| plural | themselves |
| alternative form (obsolete) | it self |
| alternative form (obsolete) | it selfe |
Origin of itself
From Middle English hit-self, equivalent to it + -self.
Words formed from itself
- a house divided against itself cannot stand
- being-for-itself
- being-in-itself
- dense-in-itself
- end in itself
- history repeats itself
- in and of itself
- in itself
- in-itselfness
- lend itself to
- of itself
- pay for itself
- repeat itself
- simplicity itself
- suggest itself
- the trash takes itself out
- thing-in-itself
- thing in itself
- unto itself
- write itself
Phrases with itself
- by itself
- in of itself
- wrote itself
- writes itself
- lent itself to
- repeats itself
- writing itself
- written itself
- lends itself to
- paid for itself
- pays for itself
- repeated itself
8 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with itself
38 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- atself
- Godself
- Guelph
- hirself
- it self
- m'self
- themself
- xyrself
- zirself
- -self
- Belf
- Chelf
- coself
- eirself
- emself
- Guelf
- Helf
- hisself
- hitself
- ittself
- know thyself
- meself
- off-the-shelf
- one's self
- oneself
- perself
- Relph
- theeself
- theirself
- theyself
- thonself
- thyself
- xemself
- y'allself
- yerself
- yo'self
- yoself
- youself
Questions about itself
- What does itself mean?
- Itself means it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.
- What is itself in Arabic?
- Itself in Arabic is نَفْسُهُ (nafsuhu), نَفْسُهَا (nafsuhā). See Itself meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is itself?
- Itself is a pronoun.
- How do you pronounce itself?
- Itself is pronounced /ɪtˈsɛlf/ (UK).
Words near itself in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: itself (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: en-us-itself.ogg.
Cite this entry: “itself.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/itself. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.