Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use than in a sentence

40 example sentences · conjunction, preposition, adverb

Than means used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison. Example: “The artist worried more than was necessary: there were a lot of people at the exhibition, more than came last year.”

Examples of than by meaning

conjunctionUsed in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.

  • The artist worried more than was necessary: there were a lot of people at the exhibition, more than came last year.
  • Profits were higher than forecast.
  • City dwellers have a higher cancer rate than do countrymen. Apparently, they drink more than is good for 'em.

prepositionIntroduces a comparison, and is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more, less, and fewer. Typically...

  • Patients diagnosed more recently are probably surviving an average of longer than two years.
  • No player is more skillful than Greg.

More sentences with than

  • The only standard brassiere cup size smaller than the A cup is the AA cup.From the entry a
  • The essay was praised for its abstractive qualities, showing insight rather than repetition.From the entry abstractive
  • Your definition of "elephant" needs to be more precise than "a big animal with large ears".From the entry definition
  • Write 0.0 to indicate a floating point number rather than the integer zero.From the entry zero
  • This medicine has fewer adverse effects than others in its drug class.From the entry medicine
  • A legislative remedy might be some harsh medicine; is that cure worse than the ill?From the entry medicine
  • Things around here are just a little more country than what he's used to.From the entry country
  • We hope that all aspects of the project will be open rather than paywalled.From the entry open
  • The frequency for electric power in the Americas is generally 60 Hz rather than 50.From the entry frequency
  • We finished the project an hour sooner than scheduled, so we left early.From the entry early
  • I’m more academic than athletic — I get lower marks in phys. ed. than in anything else.From the entry academic
  • The army received a bigger share of this year's budget increase than the navy or air force.From the entry army
  • This stand of pines is older than the one next to it.From the entry stand
  • Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined.From the entry kill
  • The view up here is better than the view down there!From the entry here
  • A Japanese saw is one that cuts on the pull stroke rather than on the push stroke.From the entry Japanese
  • Roman and medieval football matches were more violent than any modern type of football.From the entry football
  • The computer writes to the disk faster than it reads from it.From the entry write
  • Generally it should not be used in a quantity larger than 15 percent.From the entry quantity
  • J.F.K. "quarantined" Cuba rather than blockading it to avoid needless escalation of the conflict.From the entry quarantine
  • After the accident, her right leg was slightly shorter than her left.From the entry right
  • Bananas are tastier than parsnips, but the latter’s nutritional value is higher than the former’s.From the entry former
  • In my latest job, I've learnt to keep my mouth shut more than in the last one.From the entry learn
  • I'm more into the competitive part than the hobby part of this game.From the entry hobby
  • The tree will eventually tower taller than any of the others.From the entry tower
  • I look really bad whenever I get less than seven hours of sleep.From the entry bad
  • In my opinion this claim sounds in damages rather than in an injunction.From the entry sound
  • Tea is much nicer if you let it draw for more than two minutes before pouring.From the entry draw
  • They only offered me five dollars, which I wouldn’t do it for less than fifteen.From the entry which
  • Better to be excluded from society than to deny the virtue of citizenship.From the entry virtue
  • The broadcaster axed the series because far fewer people than expected watched it.From the entry axe
  • The race around the park was won by Johnny, who ran faster than the others.From the entry race
  • Of course in my opinion Social Studies is more of a science than an art.From the entry science
  • Humankind relies on technology to keep average standard of living higher than it would otherwise be.From the entry technology
  • I bet you dinner at the Ritz that you can't run faster than me.From the entry bet

Meaning of than

  1. conjunction Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.
  2. conjunction Because; for.
  3. preposition Introduces a comparison, and is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more, less, and fewer. Typically, it seeks to measure the force of an adjective or similar description between two predicates.

Full definition of than

Questions about than in a sentence

How do you use than in a sentence?
Than is used as a conjunction, preposition and adverb. For example: “The artist worried more than was necessary: there were a lot of people at the exhibition, more than came last year.”
What is a short sentence with than?
“Profits were higher than forecast.”
What does than mean?
Than means used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: than (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use than in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/than. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.