himpronoun
ukstrong /hɪm/weak /ɪm/usstrong /hɪm/weak /ɪm/him pronoun (MALE)
A1 used, usually as the object of a verb or preposition, to refer to a man, boy, or male animal that has just been mentioned or is just about to be mentioned:
If you see Kevin give him my love.
What's Terry up to - I haven't seen him for ages.
Why don't you give him his present?
We've just got a new cat, but we haven't named him yet.
More examples
- She has one son and she adores him.
- He'd completely changed - I didn't recognize him.
- His passport was confiscated by the police to prevent him from leaving the country.
- If I criticize him, he gets aggressive and starts shouting.
- Ted asked me if I could help him fix his car.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: personal pronouns
- 'em
- he
- her
- it
- me
- moi
- number one
- personally
- s
- s/he
- thee
- them
- themself
- they
- thou
- us
- you
- yours
- yours truly idiom
- yous
See more results »
him pronoun (EITHER GENDER)
used after a verb or preposition to refer to a person or animal that has just been mentioned, or is just about to be mentioned, and whose sex is not known or not considered to be important. Many people consider this use to be offensive and prefer to use him or her or them instead, or it for an animal:
A human being's ability to talk makes him unlike any other animal.
If anyone comes to see me, ask him to wait.
Note:
- Many people prefer to use them, and this can sometimes mean changing other words in the sentence: Human beings' ability to talk makes them unlike any other animal.It can be used for animals.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: personal pronouns
- 'em
- he
- her
- it
- me
- moi
- number one
- personally
- s
- s/he
- thee
- them
- themself
- they
- thou
- us
- you
- yours
- yours truly idiom
- yous
See more results »