From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishitit1 /ɪt/ ●●● S1 W1 pronoun [used as subject or object] 1 XXused to refer to a thing, animal, situation, idea etc that has already been mentioned or is already known about ‘Where’s your office?’ ‘It’s on the third floor.’ I love the spring – it’s a wonderful time of the year. There were people crying, buildings on fire. It was terrible! Don’t blame me. It wasn’t my idea. This little beast is a lemur and it lives in Madagascar.2 NOWused to refer to the situation that someone is in now, or what is happening now I can’t stand it any longer. I’m resigning. How’s it going, Bob? I haven’t seen you for ages. And the worst of it is the car isn’t even paid for yet. Stop it, you two. You’re just being silly.3 XXused as the subject or object of a verb when the real subject or object is later in the sentence It worries me the way he keeps changing his mind. What’s it like being a sailor? Apparently it’s cheaper to fly than to go by train. It’s a pity you couldn’t come. It seems that we are not welcome here. I found it hard to concentrate.4 XXused as the subject of a sentence when you are talking about the weather, the time, a distance etc Is it still raining? It was 4 o'clock and the mail still hadn’t come. It’s my birthday today. It’s over 200 miles from London to Manchester. It gets dark very early in the winter. It’s three years since I last saw her.5 EMPHASIZEused with the verb ‘be’ to emphasize that you are talking about one particular thing, person, group etc and not any other It’s Lawrence you should be talking to. It was malaria that killed him. It was in New Zealand that Elizabeth first met Mr Cronje. 6 BABY/HAVE A BABYused to refer to a baby when you do not know what sex the baby is What will you call it if it’s a boy?7 a) used to say who a person is ‘Who’s that over there?’ ‘It’s Robert Morley.’ b) spoken used to say who is speaking, especially on the telephone Hello, it’s Frank here. It’s all right, it’s only me.8 informal used to refer to sex Have you done it with him yet?9 → if it wasn’t/weren’t for somebody/something10 informal a particular ability or quality that is needed in order to do something In a job like advertising, you’ve either got it or you haven’t!11 → this is it12 → that’s it13 → think you’re it
Examples from the Corpus
it• And that's the end of it?• I'm sorry, but you just don't have it as a singer.• It costs $12 just to get in the door.• How's it going, Bob?• Since it happened to be such a nice day, they went to the beach.• So, did you two do it last night?• What's it like living in Miami?• It looks like they've left without us.• With the new stereo in the car, it makes a big difference.• In the summer, it must be beautiful there.• It's a nice camera.• It's a three-hour drive to Boston.• It was Jane who paid for the meal yesterday.• Do you like my tie? It was on sale.• It was sprinkling when we came in.• It was the meal that Jane paid for yesterday.• It was yesterday that Jane paid for the meal.itit2, It adjective informal → it bag/dress/shoes etcITIT /ˌaɪ ˈtiː/ ●●○ noun [uncountable] TD (information technology) the study or use of electronic processes and equipment for storing information and making it availableExamples from the Corpus
IT• It is the first assessment of the expanded IT Advanced Courses programme.• It is unlikely that IT managers will wish to migrate such large amounts of dead material across computer systems.• What this means is that effective IT managers have to be as sensitive to real estate as they are to virtual reality.• Jobs is positioning NeXTStep as a means to ride what he believes will be the next wave in IT - custom applications.• The program, aimed at top execs, is meant to help them manage IT more profitably and effectively.• The number of students involved in the other IT subject areas varied - between 3 and 6 percent in any one subject.• Thus IT and its record entered into the politics of the workplace.From Longman Business DictionaryITITCOMPUTING abbreviation for INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYIT has had a dramatic affect on the telecoms infrastructure.the firm’s IT departmentOrigin it Old English hit 