one another

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Pronoun

one another

1. (idiomatic, reciprocal pronoun) Used of a reciprocal relationship among a group of two or more people or things; compare each other.

   The raw recruits helped one another get over the first few days.

   Rainy days seemed to follow one another all summer.

Translations

idiomatic, reciprocal pronoun

Armenian: միմյանց (hy) (mimyanc’), իրար (hy) (irar) Old Armenian: միմեանց (mimeancʿ), իրեար (irear) Chinese: Mandarin: 互相 (cmn) (hùxiāng) Danish: hinanden (da), hverandre (da) Finnish: toisensa (fi) German: einander (de), (reciprocal) gegenseitig (de), (following each other) aufeinander (de) Hungarian: egymás (hu)

Italian: vicendevolmente (it), a vicenda (it), l'un l'altro (it) Japanese: お互いに (ja) (おたがいに, o-tagai-ni) Macedonian: еден на друг (mk) (éden na drug), меѓусебно (mk) (meǵúsebno), заемно (mk) (záemno) Polish: nawzajem (pl) Portuguese: um ao outro (pt) m. Romanian: unul pe altul (ro) Russian: (accusative, genitive) друг друга (ru) (drug drúga), (dative) друг другу (ru) (drug drúgu), взаимно (ru) (vzaímno)

Synonyms

• each other

Usage notes

Some usage guides proscribe "each other" for two entities and "one another" for more than two; this distinction is not observed in practice. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the pronoun as referring to ‘two or more’; Fowler's suggests that the distinction ‘is neither of present utility nor based on historical usage’. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage notes that ‘A few commentators believe the rule to be followed in “formal discourse”. This belief will not bear examination: Samuel Johnson's discourse is perhaps the most formal that exists in English literature, and he has been cited in violation of the rule.’

See also

• mutual
• reciprocal