Dictionary.com

Popular Searches

 Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

each other

American  

pronoun

  1. each the other; one another (used as a compound reciprocal pronoun).

    to strike at each other; to hold each other's hands; to love each other.
each other British  

pronoun

  1. used when the action, attribution, etc, is reciprocal

    furious with each other
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
each other Idioms  

  1. Also, one another. Each one the other, one the other, as in The boys like each other, or The birds were fighting one another over the crumbs. Both of these phrases indicate a reciprocal relationship or action between the subjects preceding (the boys, the birds). Formerly, many authorities held that each other should be confined to a relationship between two subjects only and one another used when there are more than two. Today most do not subscribe to this distinction, which was never strictly observed anyway. [Late 1300s] Also see at each other's throats.

Usage

Although some insist that each other be used only in reference to two ( The two candidates respected each other ) and one another in reference to three or more ( The three nations threaten one another ), in standard practice they are interchangeable. Each other is not restricted to two, nor is one another restricted to three or more. The possessive of each other is each other's; the possessive of one another is one another's.

Each other and one another are interchangeable in modern British usage

Etymology

Origin of each other

before 1000; Middle English; Old English. See each, other

Compare meaning

How does each-other compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Let’s just vent to each other.

From Los Angeles Times

We need a bunch of us talking to each other — caretakers and children of people with MS and all this stuff.

From Los Angeles Times

Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini play besties on ‘Dead to Me’ and adore each other in real life.

From Los Angeles Times

“In learning to look at each other as closely as we can and approach each other in our humanness, there exists the possibility that doing so may carry us through hatred.”

From Los Angeles Times

Thousands had watched Jackie and Shadow on livestream, as they meticulously arranged sticks in their nest high in a Jeffrey pine and nibbled each other’s feathers in preparation for laying.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.