DictionaryAI

together

tuu-GEH-thur/tʊˈɡɛðɚ/tuu-GEH-thuh/tʊˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/

5 meanings of together

Practice

  1. 1
    with each otheradverb
    In one another's company or close by; at the same moment or in the same location.

    The two delegations stood together for the official photograph.

    My brother and I watched the fireworks together from the roof of our building.

    UsageUsually after the verb: they sat together. Don't confuse all together (everyone at once) with altogether (completely).

    Oppositeapart, separately

    Note

    In use it covers time as readily as place. We can't all talk together means at once, not side by side, which is why the answer is to take turns. Went to school together joins people in both place and years.

  2. 2
    into oneadverb
    Into one place or one thing; combined into a single whole.

    The engineers bolted the two sections together to form a single beam.

    He blended the colors together until the streaks disappeared.

    UsageFollows verbs of joining or combining: put, bring, mix, or bolt things together.

    Oppositeapart

    Note

    Movement sets this sense apart. Around 1420, British Museum Additional MS 12,056 already spells it togidere, and warns surgeons not to bring the parts of a broken bone together too soon. In the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897), together with stretches the idea to naming one thing alongside another.

  3. 3
    as partnersadverb
    In a partnership or relationship, whether romantic, professional, or of some other kind.

    They got together as a couple after meeting at work.

    The partners decided to stay together and expand the firm nationwide.

    UsageBe together usually means a couple: they have been together for years; couples get together or stay together.

    Note

    Here the word stands for a bond rather than a location, and it often needs nothing more. Jenny and Mark have been together reads as a couple without saying so. Joseph C. Lincoln's Mr. Pratt's Patients (1913) has a homelier version: two men who had chummed in together to build a fish-weir.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Joseph C. Lincoln wrote Mr. Pratt's Patients, first published in 1913. archive.org
    • The novel describes two men who had chummed in together and built a fish-weir. archive.org
  4. 4
    well organizedadjectivecolloquial
    Emotionally stable and well-organized; in control of one's own life and affairs.

    Despite the chaos around her, she stayed remarkably together.

    After a rough year, he finally feels more together and focused.

    UsageOften really together or more together, after a verb or before a noun: a together person.

    Similarcomposed, organized, stable, grounded

    Oppositedisorganized, incoherent

    Note

    Russell T. Hartsaw's personal advertisement in Gay Community News (1991) seeks a serious, together individual. Its opposites include disorganized and incoherent, along with the playful untogether.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    adverbdated
    Without intermission or interruption; continuously, with no break in between.
    He would weep for hours together, and I verily believe that to the very end this spoilt child of life thought his weak tears in some way efficacious.
    1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds
    It has been raining four days together

    Similarstraight, running, consecutively, continuously

    Note

    A span of time comes first and the word follows it: four days together, for hours together. In that position it means one unbroken stretch, not company. H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds (1898) describes a man who would weep for hours together. The construction now belongs mostly to literary prose, and readers meeting it there should hear it as "without a break."

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • H. G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds. gutenberg.org
    • The book's first edition was published in 1898. writersinspire.org
    • The novel describes a man who would weep for hours together; the narrator is describing the curate. gutenberg.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of together apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Old English tōgædere, formed from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to" plus a root meaning "together" (ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root "to unite, keep"). It is essentially the words "to" and "gather" joined, with cognates in Scots thegither, Old Frisian togadera, and Dutch tegader.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • Together derives from Old English tōgædere. en.wiktionary.org
  • Its components derive from Proto-Germanic *tō, meaning 'to', and *gadar, meaning 'together'; the latter ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ-, meaning 'to unite, keep'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The formation is essentially equivalent to 'to' plus 'gather'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Scots thegither, Old Frisian togadera, and Dutch tegader are cognates. en.wiktionary.org