Such
det, name, noun, pron ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Something being indicated that is similar to something else.
"But granted that Plato does not accept the this-such distinction, why saddle him with the view that all things are thises, rather than all suches or perhaps even neither?"
- 1 of so extreme a degree or extent; demonstrative, other pronoun; demonstrative determiner, kind wordnet
- 1 to so extreme a degree wordnet
- 1 Like this, that, these, those; used to make a comparison with something implied by context. demonstrative
"I’ve never seen such clouds in the sky before."
- 2 Any.
"the above address or at such other address as may be provided"
- 3 Used as an intensifier roughly equivalent to very much (of), quite or rather.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't such a good holiday as we thought it would."
- 4 Used as an intensifier roughly equivalent to very much (of), quite or rather.; Used with gradable noun phrases to form exclamations.
"Such hypocrisy!"
- 5 A certain; representing the object as already particularized in terms which are not mentioned. dialectal, obsolete
"In rushed one and tells him such a knight / Is new arrived."
- 1 A person, a thing, people, or things like the one or ones already mentioned.
"Such is life, such as it is."
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"A Japanese would never do such a thing."
Etymology
From Middle English such, swuch, swich, swilch, swulch, from Old English swelċ, from Proto-West Germanic *swalīk, from Proto-Germanic *swalīkaz (“so formed, so like”), equivalent to so + like. Cognate with Scots swilk, sic, sik (“such”), Saterland Frisian suk (“such”), West Frisian suk, sok (“such”), Low German sülk, sulk, suk (“such”), Dutch zulk (“such”), German solch (“such”), Danish slig (“like that, such”), Swedish slik (“such”), Icelandic slíkur (“such”). More at so, like.
Related phrases
More for "such"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.