Word.ws English Dictionary

at it

UK/ˈat ɪt/US/ˈæt ɪt/

at it prepositional phrase: occupied with a given activity; busy with something.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Occupied with a given activity; busy with something.
    • Mart. Oh they are at it.
      Lart. Their noise be our instruction.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • We were at it until three o'clock in the morning.1893, Edwin H Porter, The Fall River Tragedy
    1. Engaged in sexual intercourse or other sexual activity.
      • I came home early and caught them at it in the front room.
      • He's always at it
        You're always at it
        'Cause you're an orgasm addict
        We're all orgasm addicts1977, Buzzcocks, “Orgasm Addict”

Questions about at it

What does at it mean?
At it means occupied with a given activity; busy with something.
What part of speech is at it?
At it is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce at it?
At it is pronounced /ˈat ɪt/ (UK).

Words near at it in the dictionary

  1. at Her Majesty's pleasure
  2. at home
  3. at homes
  4. at intervals
  5. at issue
  6. at it
  7. at knifepoint
  8. at large
  9. at last
  10. at latter Lammas
  11. at least

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at it (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.

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