What's the difference between stuff and thing?

Stuff


Definition:

  • (v. t.) Material which is to be worked up in any process of manufacture.
  • (v. t.) The fundamental material of which anything is made up; elemental part; essence.
  • (v. t.) Woven material not made into garments; fabric of any kind; specifically, any one of various fabrics of wool or worsted; sometimes, worsted fiber.
  • (v. t.) Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.
  • (v. t.) A medicine or mixture; a potion.
  • (v. t.) Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language; nonsense; trash.
  • (v. t.) A melted mass of turpentine, tallow, etc., with which the masts, sides, and bottom of a ship are smeared for lubrication.
  • (v. t.) Paper stock ground ready for use.
  • (n.) To fill by crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess; as, to stuff a bedtick.
  • (n.) To thrust or crowd; to press; to pack.
  • (n.) To fill by being pressed or packed into.
  • (n.) To fill with a seasoning composition of bread, meat, condiments, etc.; as, to stuff a turkey.
  • (n.) To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration.
  • (n.) To fill the skin of, for the purpose of preserving as a specimen; -- said of birds or other animals.
  • (n.) To form or fashion by packing with the necessary material.
  • (n.) To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies.
  • (n.) To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box).
  • (v. i.) To feed gluttonously; to cram.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) She read geography at Oxford, where Benazir Bhutto (a future prime minister of Pakistan, assassinated in 2007) introduced May to her future husband, Philip May: "I hate to say this, but it was at an Oxford University Conservative Association disco… this is wild stuff.
  • (2) In October, an episode of South Park saw the whole town go gluten-free (the stuff, it was discovered, made one’s penis fly off).
  • (3) It’s good stuff.” Opening markets to US-made products overseas is one of the better things that could happen for US small business and their employees, said Obama.
  • (4) A Tory spokesman said: “This is feeble stuff from a party with no economic plan and a leader who just isn’t up it.
  • (5) The "fly on the wall" stuff is no more for the moment but, Andy, grab the opportunities when you can – a few years down the line when Cameron is on the lecture circuit and the rest of us are hanging up our cameras for good, you should have an unprecedented photographic record of a seat of power.
  • (6) He’s struck a few chords with the immigration stuff, and he’s managed to capture the most valuable asset in a campaign, which is the attention of the press.
  • (7) I don’t buy any of the horse race stuff,” Bush said Tuesday.
  • (8) Del Bosque had listened to the criticism, all that stuff about it being a negative tactic, and decided not to budge an inch, and who can blame him?
  • (9) Real people, by contrast, care more about their jobs, where they live, and the fuzzy stuff of security, happiness and a sense of belonging.
  • (10) He must have had PR training – didn’t it stretch to not saying stupid stuff?
  • (11) "A lot of this stuff we inherited and had to continue," a Downing Street source said.
  • (12) Updated at 4.05am BST 4.00am BST Dodgers 3 - Cardinals 0, top of 9th And so it's all up to Yadier Molina, the Cardinals catcher who is looking to get a rally going, no easy task against Jansen who looks to have his best stuff tonight.
  • (13) As one source close to the inquiry put it: “There was a hell of a lot of dirty stuff going on.” Two earlier Yard inquiries had failed to investigate the relevant notes in Mulcaire’s logs.
  • (14) He says he did write grown-up stuff – Joking Apart in the 90s and Coupling in the 00s, sitcoms that riffed on his own sexual history.
  • (15) There's a cute one comparing feelings to children: you don't want to let them drive, but equally you don't want to stuff them in the boot.
  • (16) Who hasn’t moved house and chucked a load of old stuff just because they can’t face ramming it back into the Ikea chest of drawers?
  • (17) Hidden City writer Karl Whitney on Dublin Read more And now for a pint of the black stuff Ireland’s capital is awash with history but no visit would be complete without a sample of the black stuff.
  • (18) 1.57pm BST Lap 36: Punchy stuff from Jules Bianchi up to 13th, literally bumping his way through Kobayashi on the inside.
  • (19) "Good stuff this from City as they're effectively playing with ten men," opines Paul Ruffley.
  • (20) If you pushed them on Hitler you got the most extraordinary stuff: "He was mah-vellous.

Thing


Definition:

  • (n.) Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought.
  • (n.) An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material.
  • (n.) A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed.
  • (n.) A portion or part; something.
  • (n.) A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as merely existing; -- often used in pity or contempt.
  • (n.) Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to pack or store one's things.
  • (n.) Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; -- distinguished from person.
  • (n.) In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) One thing seems to be noteworthy in their opinion: the bacterial resistance of the germs isolated from the urine is bigger than the one of the germs isolated from the respiratory apparatus.
  • (2) The curious thing, it seems to me, is that she was never criticised for it.
  • (3) I’ve never really had that work versus life thing; it’s all part of the same canvas.
  • (4) I f you haven’t got a family, you need that replaced in some way, that’s the most important thing you can do for someone in care,” says 24-year-old Chloe Juliette, herself a care leaver.
  • (5) Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tried to liven things up, but there are only so many ways to tell us to be nice to chickens.
  • (6) Benzaldehyde's in cherries and cherrystones and amaretto, so it's immediately a base to pair things with."
  • (7) The most difficult thing I've dealt with at work is ... the terminal illness of a valued colleague.
  • (8) Photograph: Gareth Phillips for the Guardian Because health is devolved, the Welsh government can do things differently from England.
  • (9) Nick Robins, head of the Climate Change Centre at HSBC, said: "If you think about low-carbon energy only in terms of carbon, then things look tough [in terms of not using coal].
  • (10) But do you know the thing that really bites?” he pointed to his home, which was not visible behind an overgrown hedge.
  • (11) One radio critic described Jacobs' late night Sunday show as a "tidying-up time, a time for wistfulness, melancholy, a recognition that there were once great things and great feelings in this world.
  • (12) October 27, 2013 7.27pm GMT Around the league And here’s how things look elsewhere, as we head into the fourth quarter: Cowboys 13-7 Lions Browns 17-20 Chiefs Dolphins 17-20 Patriots Bills 10-28 Saints Giants 15-0 Eagles 49ers 35-10 Jaguars 7.25pm GMT End of 3rd quarter: 49ers 35-10 Jaguars The quarter ends with the Jaguars facing a third-and-one at their own 32.
  • (13) The two groups had one thing in common: the casualties' mostly deliberate posttraumatic reaction; there were only 3 patients in a state of helplessness.
  • (14) On a weekend that sees the country celebrate 50 years of independence it is certain that despite all things – good and bad – that have taken place in 2013, the next 50 years will be transformed by personal technology, concerned citizens and the media.
  • (15) One of the things Yang has said he wants to investigate is: "This state we're in ... a moment when we have to negotiate our past while inventing our present."
  • (16) Advancing the health and rights of women is the right – and smart – thing to do for any nation hoping to remain or emerge as a leader on the global stage.
  • (17) Before the offer for the jungle came in she was meant to be presenting the Plus Size Awards this week, an event supporting plus-size people who are doing amazing things but are overlooked by the mainstream.
  • (18) Pekka Isosomppi Press counsellor, Finnish embassy, London • It may have been said tongue in cheek, but I must correct Michael Booth on one thing – his claim that no one talks about cricket in Denmark .
  • (19) In some ways, the Gandolfini performance that his fans may savour most is his voice work in Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are (2009), the cult screen version of Maurice Sendak 's picture book classic – he voiced Carol, one of the wild things, an untamed, foul-mouthed figure.
  • (20) If people improved their consciousness, things would work better.