Meanings
nounthird party (plural third parties)
plural third parties · alternative 3rd party · alternative 3d party
- businessSomeone not directly involved in a transaction; an entity beyond the seller (first party) and customer (second party).
A seller may employ a third party to perform specific services to augment the value of a product, such as packing and distribution.
- lawSomeone only incidentally or tangentially connected to an incident or dispute; someone other than the principals; a bystander or independent witness.
- USgovernmentA political party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system.
Those who belong to the Libertarian Party serve a much larger pro-liberty community and have the specific mission of electing libertarians to public office. They traditionally billed themselves as 'America's largest third party'.
2010, Duncan Watts, Dictionary of American Government and Politics, →ISBN, page 177 - A person or party not directly involved with an arrangement, in contrast to active parties, characteristically the first party (producer) and second party (consumer).
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 第三方, 第三者
- 第三方 (dì-sān fāng)someone not directly involved in a transaction
- 第三者 (dì-sānzhě)someone not directly involved in a transaction
Czech třetí strana
- třetí stranasomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Danish tredjepart
- tredjepartsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Dutch derde
- derdesomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Finnish kolmas osapuoli, kolmas henkilö
- kolmas osapuolisomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- kolmas henkilösomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- kolmassomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- ulkopuolinensomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- kolmas puoluepolitical party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system
French tierce partie f), troisième parti
- tierce partie f)someone not directly involved in a transaction
- troisième partipolitical party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system
German Dritte
- Drittesomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Hindi तृतीय पक्ष
- तृतीय पक्ष (tŕtīya pakṣ)someone not directly involved in a transaction
Hungarian harmadik/kívülálló fél
- harmadik/kívülálló félsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Italian terzo, terza parte
- terzosomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- terza partesomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- terzo polopolitical party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system
Japanese 第三者, 第三党
- 第三者 (daisansha)someone not directly involved in a transaction
- 第三党 (daisantō)political party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system
Korean 제삼자
- 제삼자 (jesamja)someone not directly involved in a transaction
Norwegian tredjeperson
- tredjepersonsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Norwegian Bokmål tredjemann, tredjepart
- tredjemannsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- tredjepartsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Persian شخص ثالث
- شخص ثالثsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Polish osoba trzecia, trzecia partia
- osoba trzeciasomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- trzecia partiapolitical party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system
Portuguese terceiros
- terceirossomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Romanian terț, terț partid
- terțsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- terț partidpolitical party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system
Russian тре́тье лицо́
- тре́тье лицо́ (trétʹje licó)someone not directly involved in a transaction
Spanish tercero
- tercerosomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Swedish tredje part, tredje man
- tredje partsomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- tredje mansomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Thai บุคคลภายนอก
- บุคคลภายนอก (bùk-kon-paai-nɔ̂ɔk)someone not directly involved in a transaction
Turkish üçüncü kişi, üçüncü şahıs
- üçüncü kişisomeone not directly involved in a transaction
- üçüncü şahıssomeone not directly involved in a transaction
Cite this entry
APA
third party. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/third%20party
MLA
“third party.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/third%20party. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “third party,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/third%20party.
Source: third party on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.