thousandth

thousandth — adjective

1. being the person or thing that is number 1,000 in a series of items, coming afte

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

being the person or thing that is number 1,000 in a series of items, coming after the 999th; also the written word for the ordinal number 1,000.

Example

Bao was the museum's thousandth visitor and won a special prize.

thousandth + visitor (ordinal with a person noun)

The company celebrated the opening of its thousandth store in Taiwan.

thousandth + store (ordinal with a place noun)

Common collocations
  • thousandth customer
  • thousandth visitor
  • thousandth day
  • thousandth time
  • thousandth place

Grammar Patterns

the thousandth + noun

thousandth + noun (determiner)

Usage Note

Frequently used with nouns like 'customer', 'visitor', 'day', 'time', and 'place' to mark a milestone in a sequence.

Common Mistakes

This is my thousand time visiting here.
This is my thousandth time visiting here.
Ordinal numbers above three require the '-th' suffix; 'thousand' without '-th' is a cardinal number.

thousandth — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

'Thousandth' (1,000th) is the only one of these three that stays literal in nearly all contexts — it marks an actual numerical position in a series, as in 'the thousandth customer' at a store. 'Millionth' (1,000,000th) serves double duty: it can be literal ('the millionth visitor') but more often appears as hyperbole in phrases like 'I've told you a millionth time' to express annoyance or strong emotion. 'Billionth' (1,000,000,000th) functions similarly but is rarer; it sounds most natural in technical measurements ('a billionth of a second') or extreme exaggeration. For precise ranks, choose 'thousandth'; for emotional emphasis, 'millionth' or 'billionth' add weight that 'thousandth' does not carry in informal speech.

thousandth ↗millionthbillionth

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • one thousandth
  • the thousandth to

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Formed from Old English 'thūsend' (meaning one thousand) plus the suffix '-th', which is the standard way English turns cardinal numbers into ordinal numbers, following the same pattern as 'fourth', 'fifth', 'sixth', 'seventh', 'eighth', 'ninth', 'tenth', and 'hundredth'.