Meaning & use
the third wheel
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformalfigurative
A person who is left out because two others are a couple or close pair.
Grammar: Usually used with 'feel like' or 'be': I felt like a third wheel.
Patterns
- feel like a third wheel
- be a third wheel
- the third wheel
When my friends started dating, I became the third wheel on every outing.
She invited me to dinner, but I felt like a third wheel.
Don't make him the third wheel; invite someone else too.
Common combinations
- feel like a third wheel
- I felt like a third wheel when they held hands all evening.
- be the third wheel
- He was the third wheel on their romantic walk.
- make someone a third wheel
- Don't make your brother a third wheel at the party.
Synonyms and how they differ
- odd one out
- Odd one out means someone different from a group, not necessarily excluded by a couple.
- gooseberry
- British informal for a third wheel; less common in American English.
Commonly confused: the third wheel or third rail?
the third wheel vs third rail
Third rail is a dangerous topic or the electric rail; third wheel is about being left out socially.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'third wheel' correctly.
Choose one answer.
The idiom means feeling left out between two close people. The other options use 'wheel' literally, which is not the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “the third wheel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.