Word.ws English Dictionary

at the time

at the time prepositional phrase: at the time referred to (by the present discussion), which is in the past for many discussions but is in the future for others.

Prepositional phrase

  1. At the time referred to (by the present discussion), which is in the past for many discussions but is in the future for others.
    • Near-synonym: at that time (often synonymous depending on the timeline of recounting)
    • You have to keep in mind that there were no computers at the time.
    Synonyms:
    at that time

Examples of at the time in a sentence

  • You have to remember that this database field is asking for your best estimate of what the exchange rate will be at the time when the transaction takes place — not today's exchange rate.
  • Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time.2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2...

Synonyms of at the time

Questions about at the time

What does at the time mean?
At the time means at the time referred to (by the present discussion), which is in the past for many discussions but is in the future for others.
How do you use at the time in a sentence?
You have to remember that this database field is asking for your best estimate of what the exchange rate will be at the time when the transaction takes place — not today's exchange rate.
What part of speech is at the time?
At the time is a prepositional phrase.

Words near at the time in the dictionary

  1. at the risk of
  2. at the same time
  3. at the sight of
  4. at the soonest
  5. at the tail
  6. at the time
  7. at the top of one's bent
  8. at the top of one's game
  9. at the top of one's lungs
  10. at the top of one's voice
  11. at the top of the heap

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at the time (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 the time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_the_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.