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:
Mookie Betts has been hot and cold at the plate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
They walked to the Louvre to use the toilets there, but they cost one euro and she had left her purse at the ministry's offices.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Entering Tuesday, he had a solid .822 OPS on the road and a paltry .558 OPS at Dodger Stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
A spokesperson for Victoria Police said officers have spoken to several people who were at the Pullman Hotel, but no one was formally interviewed or arrested.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
For Gertie, each day at Santo Tomas gets a little harder.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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At the time, they said the event would be similar in scale to previous years, with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers participating.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
At one training company visited by AFP, humans holding what looked like PlayStation controllers repeated a single task -- folding clothes, moving blocks, spraying a canister -- as humanoid partners mirrored their actions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
At 64, and with the show’s 51st season premiering in September, the host and producer has no plans to slow down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
At first, Irma and her sister Connie were hesitant; after receiving hundreds of pitches to tribute their brother, which never amounted to anything, they wanted to make sure Flores was the real deal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
At fifteen, I would have been sort of eligible to play, though no one really enforced the rules.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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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
AT: I carry a water bottle everywhere, all the time and try to just always be drinking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2024
You get so used along the AT to sharing summits with only a few other people, all of whom have worked as hard as you to get there, that this was positively dazzling.
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 at time t = −3.
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 as functions of t.
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
The Court at the Head-quarters of the Empire shall consist of three Judges for the trial of Grand Dragons, and the Officers and at- tachés belonging to the Head-quarters of the Empire.
From Ku Klux Klan Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment by J. C. Lester
"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
“If I’m in a meeting, that’s where I’m at. If I’m at home, it’s where I’m at.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026
“You’ll spend the next two weeks working one day apiece for our different job Keepers—until we know what you’re best at. Slopper, Bricknick, Bagger, Track-hoe—somethin’ll stick, always does. Come on.”
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
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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
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
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
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.