ours
/ˈaʊɚz/ pronoun A1- Excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive ours) · You can't take that! It's ours!· Could we ask you to move, please. These seats are ours.
- Including the person(s) being addressed (inclusive ours). · We should ask for it back. After all, it is ours.· Don't you think that ours looks much nicer than theirs?
- That or those belonging to any entity that the speaker is a part of or identifies with, such as place of employment or education, nation, region, language, etc. · French food is better than ours.
- That or those belonging to people in general. · As we get older, maintaining an active social life should be a priority of ours.
- That or those belonging to everyone being addressed. · Good evening everyone. How are we all tonight? I know I've got my happy face on; have we all got ours on too?
- That or those belonging to an individual being addressed; used especially to a person in the speaker's care, or to whom advice or instruction is being given. · Hello Mrs Miggins. How are we feeling this morning? Oh, what's that bottle of tablets under our chair? Is that ours?
- Used to imply connection between the speaker's experiences or activities and a group of listeners. · Hey guys, in this video I'll show you how I make my upside-down sponge cake. There are lots of recipes for these, but ours is the best.
- Our house or home. · You can stay the night at ours if you like.
Plural ours
From the library
“Man does not appear to me to be intended to enjoy felicity so unmixed; happiness is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, fiery dragons defend the entrance and approach; and monsters of all shapes and kinds, requiring to be overcome ere victory is ours.
Holmes; but that is no business of ours.”
There is never enough to go around in an asylum, so things are always skimpy--at least in a poor asylum like ours.
The man’s cub is ours--to kill if we choose.”
Learn ours in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.