Word.ws English Dictionary

at

/æt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northumbria/ɪt/

at preposition: in, near, or in the general vicinity of (a particular place). Also the rare form of @.

Preposition

at

  1. In, near, or in the general vicinity of (a particular place).
    • Caesar was at Rome.
    • A climate treaty was signed at Kyoto in 1997.
    1. Attending (an educational institution).
      • She's at Oxford University, studying chemistry.
    2. Working for (a company) or in (a place or situation).
      • He used to be at Lehman Brothers. Now he's at Merrill Lynch.
      • 'Where does he work?' — 'I think he's still at the solicitors.'
    3. Indicating distance or direction relative to the speaker.
      • Target at five miles. Prepare torpedoes.
      • Look out! UFO at two o'clock!
  2. Present or taking place during (an event).
    • Was he at the meeting?
    • There was a big fight at the class reunion.
  3. Indicating time of occurrence, especially an instant of time, or a period of time relatively short in context or from the speaker’s perspective.
    • at six o’clock; at dawn; at closing time; at the age of twelve; at night; at the moment
    • Lafayette was major-general in the American army at the age of 18 […]1838, The Family Magazine
    1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, especially) (also as at; before dates) On (a particular date).
      • balance as at 20th March 1999n.d., quoted in Longmans Business Dictionary
      • at the date of the commencement of the proceedings before the judicial or administrative authority of the Contracting State where the child is1980 October 25, “Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction”, in Hague Conference on Private International Law
  4. In the direction of; towards; (often implied to be in a hostile or careless manner).
    • Don’t just talk at someone; really listen to what they have to say.
    • Stones were thrown at us, but we couldn't see who did.
  5. Indicating action bearing upon something, especially continued or repeated action.
    • Don't pick at your food!
    • My cat keeps scratching at the furniture.
  6. In response or reaction to.
    • At my request, they agreed to move us to another hotel.
    • He jumped at the sudden noise.
  7. Occupied in (activity).
    • men at work; children at play
  8. In a state of.
    • The two countries are at war.
    • She is at sixes and sevens with him.
  9. Subject to.
    • We hope that the event will go ahead, but we are at the whim of the weather.
    • The city was at the mercy of the occupying forces.
  10. Denotes a price.
    • 3 apples at 2¢ (each)
    • The offer was at $30,000 before negotiations.
  11. Indicates a position on a scale or in a series.
    • Sell at $90.
    • Tiger finished the round at tenth, seven strokes behind the leaders.
  12. In certain phrases, used to indicate the manner in which something happens or is done.
    • The car came towards me at speed.
    • He spoke at great length on the topic.
Show 5 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. Indicates a specific speed or rate that is maintained by something.
    • We were cruising along at well over the speed limit of fifty miles per hour.
    • It is growing at the rate of 3% a year.
  2. Indicates a means or method.
    • 'How was the painting sold?' — 'At auction.'
    • […] to be sold at auction for sixty gold francs.1995, Richard Klein, Cigarettes are Sublime, →ISBN, page 41
  3. On the subject of; regarding.
    • The twins were both bad at chemistry.
    • He slipped at marksmanship over his extended holiday.
  4. (Ireland, stressed pronunciation) Bothering, irritating, causing discomfort to.
    • I think ‘Jesus, my back is at me’. Then I get the ball. Off you go for 10 yards and you don’t feel a thing. Then you stop and think: ‘Jesus, it’s at me again’[.]1995 Keith Wood, quoted in David Hughes, "Wood odds-on to take one against the head", in The Independent (London) 18 January
    • He seems to be saying. “Ah, go on, you’re making the other lads feel bad.” But the 4th fella says, “No. Don’t be ‘at’ me. I’m just not in the form right now, I’ll stay where I am, thanks.”2014 Marian Keyes "Antarctic Diary - Part 2" personal website (January 2014)
  5. Also used in various other idiomatic combinations: at a pinch, at all, at fault, at pains, at risk, at that, etc.; see the individual entries.

Noun (1)

at (plural ats)

  1. The at sign (@).

Noun (2) capitalized: AT

AT (countable and uncountable, plural ATs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of assistive technology.
  2. (Navy, US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of auxiliary tugboat.
  3. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of anaerobic threshold.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism, fan fiction) Initialism of alternate timeline.
  5. (abbreviation, initialism, navigation) Initialism of aerotriangulation.
  6. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of appropriate technology.
  7. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of air tanker.
  8. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of activity theory.
  9. Ukrainian initialism of акціонерне товариство (akcionerne tovarystvo, “JSC”)

Adjective capitalized: AT

AT

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of antitank.

Also used as

at is also the rare form of @.

at is also the alternative form of 'at.

at is also the alternative form of att.

at meaning in Hindi, Telugu, Arabic and Malay

at in Hindi

in or very near a particular place
पर par, में mẽ, से se

at in Telugu

in or very near a particular place
వద్ద vadda

at in Arabic

in or very near a particular place
عِنْد ʕind, عند ʕand
indicating time
فِي fī, عِنْدَ ʕinda, في fi
in the direction of
صَوْب ṣawb, ناحية naḥyet

at in Malay

in or very near a particular place
di, dekat
indicating time
pada
More languagesFewer languages
at in Persian
در dar
at in Thai
ที่ tîi, ณ nɔɔ
at in Vietnamese
ở tại, lúc, vào, ở
at in Myanmar
မှာ hma, ၌ hnai.

Examples of at in a sentence

  • I was at Jim’s house at the corner of Fourth Street and Vine.
  • at the bottom of the page; sitting at the table; at church; at sea
  • She pointed at the curious animal.
  • I was working at the problem all day.
  • We laughed at the joke.
  • She was mad at their comments.

All 40 example sentences with at

Forms of at

Noun
pluralats
pluralat
pluralATs
Verb
third-person singular presentats
present participleatting
past participleatted
pastatted

Origin of at

From Middle English at, from Old English æt (“at, near, by, toward”), from Proto-West Germanic *at, from Proto-Germanic *at (“at, near, to”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“near, at”). Cognate with Scots at (“at”), North Frisian äät, äit, et, it (“at”), Danish at (“to”), Swedish åt (“for, toward”), Norwegian åt (“to”), Faroese at (“at, to, toward”), Icelandic að (“to, towards”), Gothic 𐌰𐍄 (at, “at”), Latin ad (“to, near”).

Words formed from at

Phrases with at

187 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with at

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about at

What does at mean?
At means in, near, or in the general vicinity of (a particular place).
What is at in Hindi?
At in Hindi is पर (par), में (mẽ), से (se). See At meaning in Hindi.
How do you use at in a sentence?
I was at Jim’s house at the corner of Fourth Street and Vine.
What part of speech is at?
At can be a preposition, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce at?
At is pronounced /æt/.

Words near at in the dictionary

  1. asystoly
  2. Asyut
  3. asyzygetic
  4. Aszód
  5. Asău
  6. at
  7. at 'em ball
  8. at 'em balls
  9. at a brunt
  10. at a canter
  11. at a clip

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at (page history and authors); AT (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-at.ogg.

Cite this entry: “at.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.