n. In grammar, a word used instead of a noun to avoid the repetition of it; a demonstrative word, pointing to a person or thing, but not describing it otherwise than by designating position, direction, relation to the speaker, or the like; one of a small body of words, in Indo-European and other families of language, coming from a few roots, different from those from which come in general verbs and nouns, and having the office of designating rather than describing: they are believed to have borne an important part in the development of inflective structure in language.