thence

T1H4E1N1C3E1
/ðɛns/

adverb

From there, from that place or from that time.

“I came thence.”

Opposite
Less commonScrabble 11

Meanings

adverbthence (not comparable)
  1. formalnot comparableFrom there, from that place or from that time.

    I came thence.

    5 more examples

    Cross fix at 6000 feet, thence descend to 3000 feet and fly direct to MAP (missed approach point).

    And from thence he went agaynſt yͤ inhabiters of Debir (but Debir was called Kiriath Sepher afoꝛetyme.)

    1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Judges j:[3], folio xiij, recto, column 2

    Miranda: O the heauens, / What fowle play had we, that we came from thence? / Or bleſſed was't we did? Prospero: Both, both my Girle. / By fowle-play (as thou ſayſt) were we heau'd thence, / But bleſſedly holpe hither.

    1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 2

    My flight was going to Wu-han and Nan-ning and thence to Hanoi, which caused a certain interest; it is not every day that British passports go to North Vietnam. My immigration official was suitably inscrutable; he took the thing as no great drama (which it certainly was to me), rather did he appear to regard the trip as a quaint eccentricity.

    1965, James Cameron, “On the Way”, in Here is Your Enemy, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 16–17

    From this we can find the characteristic roots b#95;1 and b#95;2 and thence proceed to the remaining steps of the solution process.

    2005, Alpha Chiang, Kevin Wainwright, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill International, page 605
  2. literarynot comparableDeriving from this fact or circumstance; therefore, therefrom.

    I had a really bad car accident, and thence came all my backpains.

  3. archaicnot comparableFrom that time; thenceforth; thereafter.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

adverbfrom that place or from there

Similar

adverbfrom that circumstance or source

adverb(used to introduce a logical conclusion) from that fact or reason or as a result

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*þananā
  2. Middle Englishþennes
  3. Englishthence

From Middle English þennes, from þenne + -es (“adverbial ending”), the former from þanan, þanona, from Proto-West Germanic *þananā. Cognate with Westphalian Low German diëne.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ἐκεῖθεν
  • ἐκεῖθεν (ekeîthen)from there
Arabic مِن هُنَاكَ, ثَمَّ
  • مِن هُنَاكَ (min hunāka)from there
  • ثَمَّ (ṯamma)from there
Bulgarian следователно
  • следователно (sledovatelno)from there
Czech odtud
  • odtudfrom there
Danish deraf følger, deden
  • deraf følgerfrom there
  • dedenfrom there
  • derfrafrom there
Dutch daarvandaan, vandaar
  • daarvandaanfrom there
  • vandaarfrom there
Finnish tuolta, sieltä
  • tuoltafrom there
  • sieltäfrom there
French dès lors, de là
  • dès lorsfrom there
  • de làfrom there
German daher, von dannen
  • daherfrom there
  • von dannenfrom there
  • dortherfrom there
Greek εκείθεν
  • εκείθεν (ekeíthen)from there
Hindi वहाँ से, यहाँ से
  • वहाँ से (vahā̃ se)from there
  • यहाँ से (yahā̃ se)from there
Hungarian onnan
  • onnanfrom there
Icelandic þaðan
  • þaðanfrom there
Korean 거기에서
  • 거기에서 (geogieseo)from there
Latin illim, illinc
  • illimfrom there
  • illincfrom there
  • indefrom there
  • abindefrom there
Norwegian Bokmål derfra, derifra
  • derfrafrom there
  • derifrafrom there
Polish stamtąd
  • stamtądfrom there
Portuguese desde aí, daí
  • desde aífrom there
  • daífrom there
Romanian de acolo
  • de acolofrom there
Russian отту́да
  • отту́да (ottúda)from there
Spanish de/desde ahí/allí/allá/acullá/allende
  • de/desde ahí/allí/allá/acullá/allendefrom there
Swedish därifrån, dädan - dialectally shortened to dän
  • därifrånfrom there
  • dädan - dialectally shortened to dänfrom there
  • sedanfrom there
Ukrainian зві́дти
  • зві́дти (zvídty)from there

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with thence

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

thence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thence

MLA

“thence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thence. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thence,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thence.

Source: thence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.