Meaning of person in English

person
noun [ C ]
uk

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/ˈpɜː.sən/ us

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/ˈpɝː.sən/
plural people uk/ˈpiː.pəl/ us/ˈpiː.pəl/formal persons

person noun [C] (HUMAN)

A1
a man, woman, or child:
Who was the first person to swim the English Channel?
A meal at the restaurant costs about $70 for two people.
formal Four persons have been charged with the murder.
used when describing someone's character:
She's an extremely kind person.
He's nice enough as a person, but he's not the right man for this job.
informal I don't think of him as a book person (= a person who likes books).
 in person
B2
If you do something or go somewhere in person, you do it or go there yourself:
If you can't be there in person, the next best thing is watching it on TV.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
People in general
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person noun [C] (GRAMMAR)

language   specialized
used in grammar to describe the verbs and pronouns that refer to the different people in a conversation. The first person ("I" or "we") refers to the person speaking, the second person ("you") refers to the person being spoken to and the third person ("he", "she", "it", or "they") refers to another person or thing being spoken about or described:
The novel is written in the first person, so that the author and narrator seem to be the same.
"Am" is the first person singular of the verb "to be".
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Linguistics: grammatical terms
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Grammar

Person, persons or people?
We use person in the singular to refer to any human being: …

Idioms

in the person of sb
on/about your person
-person
suffix
uk

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/ -pɜː.sən/ us

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/ -pɝː.sən/
used to combine with nouns to form new nouns referring to the particular job or duty that someone has. It is often used instead of -man or -woman to avoid making an unnecessary statement about the sex of the particular person:
spokesperson
chairperson
business people
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Men & women
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(Definition of person from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

person | American Dictionary

person
noun [ C ]
us

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/ˈpɜr·sən/
plural people us/ˈpi·pəl/ persons
a man, woman, or child:
Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon.
The auditorium can seat about 500 people.
The plane crashed just after takeoff, killing all 29 persons aboard.
Person is also used when describing someone’s character or personality:
I don’t think of him as a book person (= someone who likes books).
She’s nice enough as a person, but she’s not right for the job.
Note:
  • In formal writing, the plural "persons" is sometimes preferred over "people," but "persons" is also used in news reports – At least 30 persons are dead or missing – and in the phrase "person or persons" when the number of people is not known – We expect to catch the person or persons responsible.

Idiom

in person
(Definition of person from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

person | Business English

person
noun [ C ]
uk

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/ˈpɜːsən/ us

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persons
LAW
→  legal person

See also

natural person
people person
(Definition of person from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of person

person
The action takes place on almost the eve of the deaths of several persons near to each other in terms of spatial proximity or affection.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Despite these limitations, we believe the present study results may be generalized to persons with moderate to severe asthma.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Substantial new resources are essential to increased access to and availability of services to low-income persons.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
To include ourselves within the same framework of understanding as other persons is a condition of rationality.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In such relations two persons accept certain rights and duties toward each other.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A more interesting example might be the use of a term like "color" used with reference to the tint of a person's skin.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
What is the best explanation of what we all assume to be other persons?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A defender of the argument may believe that at no time have persons existed or will exist without their bodies.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Is it possible that such a split brain and body transfer would result in your becoming two persons?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
There is some popular literature that commends persons to be their own best friends.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Thus, the difference between two nonphysical persons is accountable on the grounds that they are affected by different physical objects.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
More specifically, it is difficult to tell whether one person's resulting utterance (aesthetic or prosaic) is correct, or even appropriate to the situation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The three smallest (2 - 5 % of the total sample each) included persons from only one age group.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In addition, assessments of the perceived difficulty of activities provides some information about the person's effectiveness in everyday life.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Cohorts have potentially distinctive outcomes as a result of the interaction of developing persons with distinctive aspects of the milieus in which they develop.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of person
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with person

person

These are words often used in combination with person.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

average person
The results show that the average person considers ten years with some problems walking about as equal to 8.5 years in full health.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
caring person
Yet it is entirely conceivable that a caring person might choose to become a physician in part because of the financial rewards involved in the profession.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
contact person
This contact person assists and supervises its implementation within the program.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with person

Translations of person

in Chinese (Traditional)
人, （用於描述人的某一品質）…的人, 文法…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
人, （用于描述人的某一品质）…的人, 语法…
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in Spanish
persona, persona [feminine, singular]…
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in Portuguese
pessoa…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Italian
in Russian
人, 人間…
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kişi, birey, şahıs…
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personne [feminine], personne, soi…
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persona…
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شَخْص…
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osoba, (při) sobě…
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person, på sig, med sig…
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orang, diri…
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มนุษย์, ที่ตัว…
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người, theo người…
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osoba…
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orang, bersamanya…
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die Person, der Körper…
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person [masculine], menneske [neuter], menneske…
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사람, 인간…
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persona, sé…
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человек, личность…
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persistent vegetative state
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person of color
person of colour
person of interest
person-to-person
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