Word.ws English Dictionary

they'd've

/ˈðeɪdəv/

they'd've is the contraction of they.

Meaning of they

Pronoun

they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or reflexive singular themself)

  1. (nominative, plural, singular, sometimes, third-person, usually) A group of entities previously mentioned.
    • Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
  2. (nominative, plural, singular, sometimes, third-person, usually) One whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or both.
    • Somebody requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say if they preferred the balcony or the floor. [The gender is unknown and irrelevant.]
  3. (nominative, plural, singular, sometimes, third-person, usually) One who is nonbinary.
    • There is no need to panic. Robin should be here soon and they will know what to do. [Robin is nonbinary and uses singular they.]
  4. (indefinite, nominative, plural, pronoun, singular, sometimes) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
    • They say it’s a good place to live.
  5. (indefinite, nominative, plural, pronoun, singular, sometimes) The authorities, the (power) elites, the powers that be, the establishment, the man, the system: government, police, employers, etc.
    • They'll tax us for the air we breathe next.
  6. (nominative, plural, singular, sometimes, third-person, usually) The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
    Antonyms:
    we

See all 11 meanings of they

Questions about they'd've

What is they'd've the contraction of?
They'd've is the contraction of they.
How do you pronounce they'd've?
They'd've is pronounced /ˈðeɪdəv/.

Words near they'd've in the dictionary

  1. they hate us 'cause they ain't us
  2. they hit the Pentagon
  3. they say
  4. they should have sent a poet
  5. they'd
  6. they'd've
  7. they'da
  8. they'l
  9. they'll
  10. they'll do it every time
  11. they'll've

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: they'd've (page history and authors); they (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:

Cite this entry: “they'd've.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/they%27d%27ve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.