themself

/ðɛmˈsɛlf/

themself pronoun: the reflexive form 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).

Pronoun

themself (third person, singular reflexive of they)

(pronoun, proscribed, reflexive, sometimes, third-person) The reflexive form 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).
- Someone could hurt themself.
- Anyone who wants a car like mine can buy one themself.
(nonstandard, proscribed, sometimes, third-person) Synonym of themselves (the third-person plural).
- […] and the same is here thought of al men to be so vailable and sufficient, as can be required, accept and take the said commission and dispensation so thankfully, and themself so satisfied with the same, that they repute and think themself not only singularly obstringed and bound to the Popes […]1822, John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, Relating Chiefly to Religion, page 119
- Antony.- That fear I much, cousin, too. But thereby shall it well, as I said, appear, that seemed they never so good and virtuous before, and flattered they themself with never so gay a gloss of good and gracious purpose that they kept their goods for, yet were their hearts inwardly in the deep...1847, Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, page 237
Synonyms:

themselves

Examples of themself in a sentence

The 10th of April the Austrian General Göcz was defeated by Görgey at Vácz, where Leiningen highly distinguished themself.1850, Theresa Pulszky, Memoirs of a Hungarian Lady, page 275:
After infinite wanderings the little note has reached us. […] Almost any one under the circumstances would have doubted if it were theirs, or indeed if they were themself—but to us it was clear.1881 September 24, Emily Dickinson, “To the Misses ——”, in Mabel Loomis Todd, editor, Letters of Emily Dickinson, volume II, Boston, Mass....
[…] they woulden't ^([sic]) always be trying to make Themself Look Diffarunt ^([sic]) from what nature made Them.1899 December 6, “Paw Baldness”, in Shiner Gazette:
THE author who masqueraded as Helen Demidenko yesterday urged the hoaxer who deceived the respected right-wing journal Quadrant to unmask themself.2009 January 8, Samantha Maiden, “Hoaxer, out yourself: 'Demidenko'”, in The Australian, archived from the original on 15 Dec 2012:

Synonyms of themself

themselves
theirself
himself
herself
other attested gender-neutral pronouns
theirselves
thonself

All synonyms of themself

Forms of themself

singular reflexive	of they

Origin of themself

From Middle English theimself. Equivalent to them + -self. Reinforced by analogy with the singular-plural distinction between yourself and yourselves.

Phrases with themself

give someone enough rope and they'll hang themself

Words that rhyme with themself

38 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about themself

What does themself mean?: Themself means the reflexive form 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).
How do you use themself in a sentence?: The 10th of April the Austrian General Göcz was defeated by Görgey at Vácz, where Leiningen highly distinguished themself.
What part of speech is themself?: Themself is a pronoun.
How do you pronounce themself?: Themself is pronounced /ðɛmˈsɛlf/.

Words near themself in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: themself (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-themself.wav.

Cite this entry: “themself.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/themself. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.