a thing

1. A complicated situation; something that causes a dispute. A: "Ugh, I forgot to invite Penny to the party, and now it's a whole thing." B: "Oh man. Is she mad at you?" Please tell me this isn't going to be a thing between us. Can we just forget about it? You didn't hear about the class getting detention? Oh gosh, it's a whole thing that I don't have time to get into right now.

2. A popular, significant, or well-known entity or person. Elizabethtown came out in the early 2000s, back when Orlando Bloom was a thing. Remember when "cronuts" were a thing? That was a fun time. Cell phones were barely a thing when I was in college, so we all had to have landlines in our dorm rooms.

3. A romantic couple. Are Jack and Anna a thing again? I thought they broke up. No, stop it—those two are a thing? I can't believe it! A: "I knew it! I knew you and Raymond were a thing!" B: "Shush, I didn't want to say anything until we'd gone a few more dates!"

4. A phenomenon that is (at least somewhat) widely recognized or practiced. Yep, mom jeans are a thing now in the fashion world. Is stealthing really a thing? Wow, modern society is truly awful. People are dancing in traffic and filming it for social media? Seriously, that's a thing?

a whole thing

A complicated situation; something that causes a dispute. A: "Ugh, I forgot to invite Penny to the party, and now it's a whole thing." B: "Oh man. Is she mad at you?" Please tell me this isn't going to be a whole thing between us. Can we just forget about it? You didn't hear about the class getting detention? Oh gosh, it's a whole thing that I don't have time to get into right now.

thing

n. one’s interest; one’s bag. This isn’t exactly my thing, but I’ll give it a try.

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References in periodicals archive ?

D) don't tell Danielle a thing. She has no business being all up in your BFF'S, um, business.

Psst ... can you keep a secret? Are you the girl your buds come running to for a good gossip fix? Or do you keep those lips zipped when it comes to other people's biz?

A wrote, "Devoid of passion, either for a thing, a person, or an idea, incapable or unwilling to reveal himself under any circumstances, he [A's father] had managed to keep himself at a distance from life, to avoid immersion in the quick of things.

The Auster instance: a ficto-biography

Old anxiety-producing (to say the least) patterns are a thing of the past, and you're about to settle into a new-and-improved groove.

GL's astronomical astrological 2004 cast: want the scoop on boys, buds, grades and fam for the upcoming year? Search no more.... We've got your 2004-and-411!