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:
Just like surfing, if he put his mind to it, he’d get good at volleyball, but for now, football is the focus for him and his family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Or Vance, who is 42 with an infant at home.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
The most dramatic partial solar eclipse so far this century will be visible across the UK on Wednesday evening - peaking in northwest England at 19:10 BST.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
If she, as many assume, is putting off pregnancy until after a presidential run, then such a scenario is at least a possibility.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Although sulfones are successful at arresting the disease in some patients, they don’t work for all patients, and no one knows why.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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At the door, Springfield pastors were offering communion and prayer.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
At the time, then Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes criticised "dithering" on the decision but said national security was important and must be respected.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
At the same time, PJM plans to play matchmaker between data centers and power providers to facilitate direct contracts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
At least seven of the 20 most destructive fires in California history have been sparked by the three biggest for-profit utilities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
At last, Gingersnipes cracked a smile, the sight of which thawed the edges of Clare’s soul.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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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
Andersen Group does so because it is deemed the “managing member” that controls AT Umbrella.
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
For nearly its whole length through the Smokies, the AT marks the boundary between North Carolina and Tennessee.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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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
Find aT and aN as functions of t.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
We write aT to denote the tangential component and aN to denote the normal component.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Find aT and aN at time t = −3.
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
But that is not the case, she insists, challenging George to discover her real reason: “Do what you’re obviously good at. Get to the truth yourself.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 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
"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
"What we have got with the squad, we need to look at. We have got some choices to make over the six months on recruitment and retainment. We need people who want to fight."
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
“Just visiting? Well, you’ve chosen a wonderful place to look at. What are you specially interested in?”
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
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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
That’s why Clawson has confidence despite losing a talent like two-time 1,000-yard receiver A.T.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 16, 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
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
In the Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Ntlakyapamuq, four Indian languages of British Columbia, the words for "father" when addressed, are respectively a'bo, ats, no'we, pap, and for "father" in other cases, nEgua'at, au'mp, nuwe'k'so, ska'tsa.
From The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day by Alexander F. Chamberlain
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
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
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.