DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC (Prospectus Summary) | DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC

Fund Summary

Investment Objective

The fund seeks to provide capital growth,

with current income as a secondary goal by investing in stocks that meet certain
financial as well as social criteria.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold
shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your
family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in certain
funds in the Dreyfus Family of Funds. More information about these and other
discounts is available from your financial professional and in the Shareholder
Guide section on page 8 of the Prospectus and in the How to Buy Shares section
and the Additional Information About How to Buy Shares section on page II-1 and
page III-1, respectively, of the fund's Statement of Additional Information.
Class A shares bought without an initial sales charge as part of an investment
of $1 million or more may be charged a deferred sales charge of 1.00% if
redeemed within one year.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC	Class A	Class C	Class I	Class Z
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%	none	none	none
Maximum contingent deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of lower of purchase or sale price)	none	1.00%	none	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC	Class A	Class C	Class I	Class Z
Management fees	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees	none	0.75%	none	none
Other expenses (including shareholder services fees)	0.56%	0.55%	0.17%	0.32%
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.31%	2.05%	0.92%	1.07%

Example

The Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund
with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you
invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all
of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your
investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses
remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on
these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC (USD $)	Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year	Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years
Class A	701	966	1,252	2,063
Class C	308	643	1,103	2,379
Class I	94	293	509	1,131
Class Z	109	340	590	1,306

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC (USD $)	Expense Example, No Redemption, 1 Year	Expense Example, No Redemption, 3 Years	Expense Example, No Redemption, 5 Years	Expense Example, No Redemption, 10 Years
Class A	701	966	1,252	2,063
Class C	208	643	1,103	2,379
Class I	94	293	509	1,131
Class Z	109	340	590	1,306

Portfolio Turnover

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities
(or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher
transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable
account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in
the example, affect the fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the
fund's portfolio turnover rate was 64.12% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategy

To pursue its goals, the fund, under normal circumstances, invests at least 80%
of its net assets in the common stocks of companies that, in the opinion of the
fund's management, meet traditional investment standards and conduct their
business in a manner that contributes to the enhancement of the quality of life
in America.

The fund's investment strategy combines a disciplined investment process that
consists of computer modeling techniques, fundamental analysis and risk
management with a social investment process. In selecting stocks, the portfolio
managers begin by using computer models to identify and rank stocks within an
industry or sector, based on several characteristics, including value, growth
and financial profile.

Next, based on fundamental analysis, the portfolio managers designate the most
attractive of the higher ranked securities as potential purchase candidates,
drawing on a variety of sources, including company management and internal as
well as Wall Street research.

The portfolio managers then evaluate each stock to determine whether the company
enhances the quality of life in America by considering its record in the areas
of protection and improvement of the environment and the proper use of our
natural resources, occupational health and safety, consumer protection and
product purity and equal employment opportunity.

The portfolio managers then further examine the companies determined to be
eligible for purchase, by industry or sector, and select investments from those
companies the portfolio managers consider to be the most attractive based on
financial considerations.

Principal Risks

An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit. It is not insured or guaranteed by
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. It
is not a complete investment program. The fund's share price fluctuates, sometimes
dramatically, which means you could lose money.

o Risks of stock investing. Stocks generally fluctuate more in value than bonds
and may decline significantly over short time periods. There is the chance that
stock prices overall will decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles,
with periods of rising prices and falling prices. The market value of a stock
may decline due to general weakness in the stock market or because of factors
that affect the company or its particular industry.

o Social investment risk. A socially responsible investment criteria may limit
the number of investment opportunities available to the fund, and as a result,
at times the fund's returns may be lower than those funds that are not subject
to such special investment considerations.

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of
investing in the fund. The table compares the average annual total returns
of the fund's shares to those of a broad measure of market performance. The
fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is no guarantee of future
results.  More recent performance information may be available at
www.dreyfus.com.

The bar chart shows changes in the performance of the fund's Class Z shares from
year to year. Sales charges, if any, are not reflected in the bar chart, and if
those charges were included, returns would have been less than those shown.

Year-by-Year Total Returns as of 12/31 each year (%) -- Class Z

Best Quarter Q2, 2009: 17.10%
Worst Quarter Q4, 2008: -21.30%

The year-to-date total return of the fund's Class Z shares as of
June 30, 2012 was 8.14%.

After-tax performance is shown only for Class Z shares. After tax performance
of the fund's other share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated
using the historical highest individual federal marginal tax rates, and do not
reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend
on the investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and the
after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares
through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement
accounts.

Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/11)

Average Annual Total Returns DREYFUS THIRD CENTURY FUND INC	Label	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Class A returns before taxes	(5.40%)	0.20%	0.59%
Class C	Class C returns before taxes	(1.22%)	0.67%	0.44%
Class I	Class I returns before taxes	0.84%	1.80%	1.54%
Class Z	Class Z returns before taxes	0.69%	1.66%	1.44%
After Taxes on Distributions Class Z	Class Z returns after taxes on distributions	0.59%	1.57%	1.39%
After Taxes on Distributions and Sales Class Z	Class Z returns after taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares	0.59%	1.41%	1.23%
S&P 500 Comp Stock Price Index	S&P 500 Comp Stock Price Index reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes	2.09%	(0.25%)	2.92%