View synonyms for

each other

pronoun

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

pronoun

used when the action, attribution, etc, is reciprocal
furious with each other

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Usage Note

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.

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Usage

Each other and one another are interchangeable in modern British usage

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Word History and Origins

Origin of each other¹

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

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Idioms and Phrases

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 .

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Compare Meanings

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

each other vs. one another

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Watching the leaders of Australia's two major parties debate each other on television, the Jaru Bunuba Bardi woman was dismayed that "they didn't talk about any Aboriginal issues or concerns".

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The two knew each other from San Francisco, and Symonds had moved to New York from California to work as Irving’s associate director at the Lincoln Center.

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“I know my mom and dad were deeply in love with each other, but Mom and Bob have so much in common,” she said.

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“There’s such harmony in their lives, a really nice balance. They spark each other.”

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When Pointer and Symonds worked together on the 1997 production of “Fighting Over Beverly,” also at the Fountain, they rehearsed at home and carpooled across town to the theater, but their characters weren’t supposed to have seen each other in 50 years.

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Related Words

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

each and every one each way

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