# ours

/ˈaʊɝz/ (US) · /ˈaʊəz/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/ours
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. belonging to us

pronoun · CEFR A2

the thing or things that belong to you and the people you are with.

For teachers: the possessive pronoun used to refer to something previously mentioned that belongs to the speaker and others.

- We didn't have a map, but our friends let us borrow ours.
- While their research focused on urban development, ours was concerned primarily with the ecological impact of rural expansion.

### 2. our home

pronoun · CEFR B1 · Informal

your house or the place where you live.

For teachers: used informally to refer to the speaker's residence or household.

- Why don't you come over to ours for dinner on Friday night?
- After the concert ended, the whole group headed back to ours to continue the celebration until the early hours of the morning.

### 3. belonging to our group

pronoun · CEFR B2

belonging to a group you identify with, like your company, school, or country.

For teachers: indicates belonging to a collective entity with which the speaker identifies, such as an institution or nation.

- Their school has a new gym, but ours has a better library.
- While many competing firms struggled during the recession, ours managed to maintain steady growth through diversified investments.

## Examples

- The blue car is ours.
- Your garden is beautiful, but ours needs a lot of work before the summer starts.
- While their proposal focused on short-term gains, ours emphasized sustainable growth over the next decade, which eventually won the board's approval.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.