Results for We

Definitions of We:

part of speech: pronoun, plural

Of I; a word denoting the person speaking along with one or more. Note.- We is employed by sovereigns in addresing their subjects, and by authors, editors, and the like, with the view of avoiding the appearance of egotism in the use of I.

part of speech: plural

Of I: I and another or others: I and he or she, or I and they. We is sometimes, like they, vaguely used for society, people in general, the world, etc., but when the speaker or writer uses we he identifies himself more or less directly with the statement; when he uses they he implies no such identification. Both pronouns thus used may be translated by the French on and the German man; as we ( or they) say- on dit, man sagt. " 'They say so. ' 'And who are " they"" Everybody- nobody. They! They is a regular scandal- monger, an unknown, unacknowledged, unseen, unanswered, unauthorized creation quoted on all occasions. '"- Mrs. S. C. Hall. We is requently used by individuals, as editors, authors, and the like, when alluding to themselves, in order to avoid the appearance of egotism which it is assumed would result from the frequent use of the pronoun I, though it is an open question whether or not we is any less egotistic than I, in authorship. The plural style is also used by kings and other potentates, and is said to have been first used in his edicts by King John of England, according to others by Richard I. The French and German sovereigns followed the example about the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Usage examples for We:

• We will do more, then. "The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles", Jean Henri Fabre

• We must know what to expect, you see. "San-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little Streams", Charles Paul de Kock

• " We don't need it now," said Captain Jack. "The Boy Allies with Uncle Sams Cruisers", Ensign Robert L. Drake

• We all heard them. "Oswald Bastable and Others", Edith Nesbit