at
1 Americanpreposition
-
(used to indicate a point or place occupied in space); in, on, or near.
to stand at the door;
at the bottom of the barrel.
-
(used to indicate a location or position, as in time, on a scale, or in order).
at zero;
at noon;
at age 65;
at the end;
at the lowest point.
-
(used to indicate presence or location).
at home;
at hand.
-
(used to indicate amount, degree, or rate).
at great speed;
at high altitudes.
-
(used to indicate a direction, goal, or objective); toward.
Aim at the mark.
Look at that.
-
(used to indicate occupation or involvement).
at work;
at play.
-
(used to indicate a state or condition).
at ease;
at peace.
-
(used to indicate a cause or source).
She was annoyed at his stupidity.
-
(used to indicate a method or manner).
He spoke at length.
-
(used to indicate relative quality or value).
at one's best;
at cost.
noun
verb (used with object)
idioms
-
where it's at, the place where the most interesting or exciting things happen.
Emma says that Rome is definitely where it's at now.
-
be at (someone), to be sexually aggressive toward (a person).
She's pregnant again because he's at her morning, noon, and night.
noun
-
at,
plural
-
ats
plural
abbreviation
abbreviation
abbreviation
-
atmosphere.
-
atomic.
-
attorney.
abbreviation
preposition
-
used to indicate location or position
are they at the table?
staying at a small hotel
-
towards; in the direction of
looking at television
throwing stones at windows
-
used to indicate position in time
come at three o'clock
-
engaged in; in a state of (being)
children at play
stand at ease
he is at his most charming today
-
(in expressions concerned with habitual activity) during the passing of (esp in the phrase at night )
he used to work at night
-
for; in exchange for
it's selling at four pounds
-
used to indicate the object of an emotion
angry at the driver
shocked at his behaviour
-
slang the real place of action
symbol
symbol
abbreviation
-
Also: atm. atmosphere (unit of pressure)
-
atomic
abbreviation
noun
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of at1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English æt; cognate with Old Frisian et, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Gothic at, Old High German az, Latin, Old Welsh, Old Breton ad, Oscan ad-, Umbrian ař-, Old Irish, Gaulish, Phrygian ad-
Origin of at2
First recorded in 1950–55; from Lao; compare Thai ʔàt formerly, a copper coin worth one eighth of a füang, ultimately from Pali aṭṭha eight
Vocabulary lists containing at
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The next inning, Snell worked around a leadoff hit — a blooper into shallow right field that speedy Tyler Tolbert stretched into a double — and stolen base to strand Tolbert at third.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
In Essex, people can watch the partial eclipse from Southend-on-Sea pier, Munnings Museum in Dedham hosts an event and Loughton Astronomical Society is holding another at Theydon Bois village green.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
It seemed no lead was safe during the Sparks’ matchup against the Mercury on Tuesday night before Phoenix rallied for a 94-87 win at the Galen Center, snapping its three-game losing streak.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Both Bothwell and Clough stressed that you must avoid looking directly at the Sun with the naked eye even when it is mostly blocked, as this can cause permanent damage.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The people of the Philippines practiced diverse religions at the time.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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At just seven years old, Park Geon-roung starred in the Baby Shark music video that went on to become the most-watched YouTube clip of all time, with 17 billion views - and counting.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
At its launch, Chinese state media hailed Manus as a symbol of national innovation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
At that moment I became a lifelong football fan, eventually a player and coach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
At that level of investment, Moore said the “sophisticated third party investor groups” are calling the shots, which should assuage fears that deals are being “purely driven by circular motivations.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
At the time Joey contracts the disease, TB is a priority for public health leaders in the Philippines.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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"After AI and tech sentiment had dominated market moves over the last couple of weeks, investors are now forced to move back to focusing on geopolitical tensions," AT Global Markets' Nick Twidale said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
In addition, AT Umbrella, which owns the operating subsidiaries, issued $350 million of promissory notes to the same insiders concurrent with the IPO, effectively another payout to them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
The event, named AT 2024tvd, exhibited the fastest-changing radio emission ever recorded from a black hole consuming a star.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
It's not straightforward, as not all social media firms support the same protocol, for example, BlueSky uses the AT Protocol.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2025
I had done 870 miles, considerably less than half the AT.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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We write aT to denote the tangential component and aN to denote the normal component.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Find aT and aN as functions of t.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Find aT and aN at time t = −3.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
The tangential and normal components of acceleration aT and aN are the projections of the acceleration vector onto the unit tangent and unit normal vectors to the curve.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Put together some good at- bats, but we weren’t quite able to finish it,” Padres starter Seth Lugo said.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 17, 2023
Ehire Adrianza lined out to left before Floro struck out Grissom in a 13-pitch at- bat for his 10th save.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
Joc Pederson contributed two hits and is seven for his last 13 at- bats.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2015
All New York Times executives are at- will employees.
From Reuters ● Aug. 17, 2012
"And now, Miss Flora," he added briskly, as Miss Flora reached for her wraps, "with your kind permission I'll walk home with you and have a look at- -my new job of secretarying."
From Oh, Money! Money! by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
"I don't do this as a joke. I do this because it's what I'm good at. I'm going to prove it this year and keep proving it moving forward."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
"The smell is awful, very pungent. It is also unpleasant to look at. It looks filthy," said Nurhasanah, who like many Indonesians only has one name.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
“That’s the thing that I’m good at. That’s the thing that I’ve trained to do,” Mescal says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
"There are also several bones with differing morphology that haven't been investigated before that I'm interested in looking at. These might represent new taxa and offer additional clues about snake evolution."
From Science Daily ● Dec. 31, 2025
“Piper needs to find more things to excel at. She won’t have time for magic tricks.”
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
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“The president or protectee is never exposed to the outside,” said A.T.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
The blocked punt set up Carr’s 35-yard touchdown pass to A.T.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 21, 2023
Jameis Winston relieved Carr and drove New Orleans 48 yards in just four plays for 14-0 lead on a 29-yard pass over the top of the Chiefs’ secondary to rookie receiver A.T.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 13, 2023
Bridging climate fiction with a focus on the politics of health and disability, A.T.
From Slate ● Dec. 30, 2022
A.T. was his chem lab partner this past semester.
From "Dear Martin" by Nic Stone
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Sho sez at high class ats laid dahn all th’ brass, Just nah they’re beginnin ta craw; To mak up for th’ trouble they’re bahn to charge double, For bad speckulashun it law.
From Random Rhymes and Rambles by William Aldis Wright
The little children scattered calico flowers on their path, the snowy-aired old men with red faces and rinkles took off their brown paper ats to slewt the noble Marcus.
From Burlesques by William Makepeace Thackeray
Work or do, to, chai; I work, ats chái or cháit-sen; thou workest, nuk'w chái or chái-uts-hu; he works, kw'sá chai; we work, nung'l tsá-chái; ye work, nuk'w't-sa ái-a-chái; they work, tsâ-tsa chi´chai.
From Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi by George Gibbs
Pronouns: I, absolute, ut´za; copulative, prefixed to a verb, ats; suffixed to do., sun, sen, sin.
From Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi by George Gibbs
Men waved their ats and umbrellas, ladies, of whom there were many hundreds present, waved their handkerchiefs, and men, strangers to each other, shook hands with the fervency of brotherhood.
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 8 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Political by Robert Green Ingersoll
But she also did it on Twitter and @ed Powers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2019
You’ll be able to search for files you have stored in the cloud by @ing them.
From The Verge ● May 18, 2022
The system of followers, @ing and threading encourages sprawling conversations to develop from initial tweets, favouring constant interaction.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 23, 2019
Relieve yourself of this outrageous expectation, and stop @ing famous people who don’t know you if it’s going to get you all steamed up when they continue living their lives without you in it.
From Slate ● May 2, 2016
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.