each

/itʃ/

/itʃ/

Use the adjective each when every separate person or thing in a group is considered individually, one by one or piece by piece. If all the guests at your party will go home with a goody bag, you can say that each person will get one.

The word each is useful for singling out one instance, item, or person from a larger group. When it's used as an adverb, it basically means "apiece." You might, for example, say, "These cupcakes cost me three dollars each," or "My siblings and I have one cat each — all together, we have six cats in our family." The Old English root of each, , is based on a Germanic phrase that means "ever alike."

Definitions of each

1. adverb

   separately for every person or thing, as in "The cookies cost a dollar each"
2. pronoun

   everyone of a group individually, as in "Each of us had a different opinion of the candidate"
3. adjective

   (used of count nouns) every one considered individually
   “each person is mortal”

   “each party is welcome”

   synonyms:

   all

   quantifier; used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
4. adverb

   to or from every one of two or more (considered individually)
   “they received $10 each”

   synonyms: apiece, for each one, from each one, to each one