the thing

English[edit]

(predicative) The needful thing: something suitable for the purpose.
This book isn't quite the thing.

I need a present for my friend, and I think this is just the thing.
(predicative) The desired thing: someone or something that is popularly favored.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, →OCLC, page 23:
  He liked Tom all right... Sampson and Bullock he could do without, however. Especially Sampson, who was too much of a grammar-school-type swot ever to be quite the thing.
- 2017 November 2, Ben Brantley, “Review: ‘Junk’ Revives a Go-Go Era of Debt and Duplicity”, in The New York Times:
  “When did money become the thing — the only thing?” Ms. Lim’s character asks in the opening monologue.
- 2018 September 30, Steve Politi, “A Rutgers fan's secret to survival: Beer. Lots and lots of beer.”, nj.com:
  Brewfest needs to become the thing at Rutgers.
- 2018 December 26, Avery Anapol (quoting Claire McCaskill), “McCaskill on Ocasio-Cortez: ‘I’m a little confused why she’s the thing’”, The Hill:
  "I'm a little confused why she's the thing,” McCaskill told CNN.