that
Pronunciation
    • (British, America, CA, Australia) IPA: /ˈðæt/
    • (New Zealand, Northern US, Mary-marry-merry) IPA: /ˈðɛt/
    • (India) IPA: /ˈd̪æt/, /ˈd̪ɛt/, /ˈd̪æʈ/, /ˈd̪ʱæʈ/,
  • (unstressed) enPR: thət, IPA: /ˈðət/
Conjunction
  1. Introducing a clause which is the subject or object of a verb (such as one involving reported speech), or which is a complement to a previous statement.
    He told me that the book is a good read.
    I believe that it is true.She is convinced that he is British.
  2. Introducing a subordinate clause expressing a reason or cause: because, in that.
    Be glad that you have enough to eat.
  3. (dated) Introducing a subordinate clause that expresses an aim, purpose or goal ("final"), and usually contains the auxiliaries may, might or should: so, so that.
    • circa 1596-97 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I scene iii:
      smallcaps Bassanio: Be assured you may.
      smallcaps Shylock: I will be assured I may; and, that I may be assured, I will bethink me. May I speak with Antonio?
    • 1714, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, III.1:
      The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
    • 1833, Parley's Magazine, volume 1, page 23:
      Ellen's mamma was going out to pay a visit, but she left the children a large piece of rich plumcake to divide between them, that they might play at making feasts.
    • 1837, The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (volume 23, page 222)
      That he might ascertain whether any of the cloths of ancient Egypt were made of hemp, M. Dutrochet has examined with the microscope the weavable filaments of this last vegetable.
    • circa 1845-46 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese, If Thou Must Love Me:
      […] A creature might forget to weep, who bore / Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! / But love me for love's sake, that evermore / Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.
    • 1886-88, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 547:
      Now one day of the days, […] the Sultan cast his eyes upon her as she stood before him, and said to his Grand Wazir, "This be the very woman whereof I spake to thee yesterday, so do thou straightway bring her before me, that I may see what be her suit and fulfil her need."
  4. Introducing — especially, but not exclusively, with an antecedent like so or such — a subordinate clause expressing a result, consequence or effect.
    The noise was so loud that she woke up.
    The problem was sufficiently important that it had to be addressed.
    • 2008, Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 23 May 2008:
      My dad apparently always said that no child of his would ever be harassed for its poor eating habits, and then I arrived, and I was so disgusting that he revised his opinion.
  5. (archaic or poetic) Introducing a premise or supposition for consideration: seeing as; inasmuch as; given that; as would appear from the fact that.
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors:
      What, are you mad, that you do reason so?
    • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:
      In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
    • circa 1911 D.H. Lawrence, third draft of what became Sons and Lovers, in Helen Baron (editor), Paul Morel, Cambridge University Press (2003), ISBN 978-0-521-56009-2, page 234 ↗:
      “She must be wonderfully fascinating,” said Mrs Morel, with scathing satire. “She must be very wonderful, that you should trail eight miles, backward and forward, after eight o’clock at night.”
  6. Introducing a subordinate clause modifying an adverb.
    Was John there? — Not that I saw.
    How often did she visit him? — Twice that I saw.
    • 1866 October 6, Anthony Trollope, The Claverings, part 8, in Littell's Living Age, number 1166 (series 4, number 27), page 27:
      " […] I will go anywhere that she may wish if she will go with me,"
  7. (archaic or poetic) Introducing an exclamation expressing a desire or wish.
    Oh that spring would come!
    • 1864, T. S. Norgate's translation of the Iliad, book 10, page 613:
      "Would that my rage and wrath would somehow stir me, / Here as I am, to cut off thy raw flesh / And eat it."
  8. Introducing an exclamation expressing a strong emotion such as sadness or surprise.
    • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 1, scene 2, page 4:
      I pray thee, mark me — that a brother should / Be so perfidious! —
Translations Translations Determiner
  1. The (thing, person, idea, etc) indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote physically, temporally or mentally than one designated as "this", or if expressing distinction.
    That book is a good read. This one isn't.
    That battle was in 1450.
    That cat of yours is evil.
    • 2016, [https://web.archive.org/web/20171014193917/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lets-learn-english-lesson-6-where-is-the-gym/3225958.html VOA Learning English] (public domain)
      The gym is across from the lounge. It’s next to the mailroom. Go that way. — Thanks, Pete! — No, Anna! Not that way! Go that way!
Translations Pronoun
  1. (demonstrative) The thing, person, idea, quality, event, action or time indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote geographically, temporally or mentally than one designated as "this", or if expressing distinction. [from 9thc.]
    • circa 1600 William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:
      To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?
    • 1888 July, The Original Secession Magazine, page 766:
      [He] was qualified and fitted, both intellectually and morally, — and that to an exceptional extent — to be the Head […]
    • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604 ↗; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620 ↗:
      "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."
    • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game (Folio Society 2010), page 310:
      However […], the British were unable to do much about it short of going to war with St Petersburg, and that the government was unwilling to do.
    • 2005, Joey Comeau, Lockpick Pornography (Loose Teeth Press):
      I've never seen someone beaten unconscious before. That’s lesbians for you.
    That's my car over there.
    He went home, and after that I never saw him again.
  2. The known (thing); used to refer to something just said.
    They're getting divorced. What do you think about that?
  3. (demonstrative) The aforementioned quality or proposition; used to emphatically affirm or deny a previous statement or question.
    The water is so cold! — That it is.
    Would you like another piece of cake? — That I would!
    We think that you stole the tarts. — That I did not!
    • 1910, Helen Granville-Barker, An Apprentice to Truth, page 214:
      "She is very honourable," said Mrs. Thompson, solemnly. "Yes, one sees she is that, and so simple-minded."
  4. (relative) (plural that) Which, who; representing a subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition. [from 9thc.]
    The CPR course that she took really came in handy.
    The house that he lived in was old and dilapidated.
    • circa 1600 William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 4:
      By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me.
  5. (colloquial) Used in place of relative adverbs such as where or when; often omitted.
    the place that [= where or to which] I went last year
    the last time that [= when] I went to Europe
Antonyms Translations Translations Adverb

that (not comparable)

  1. (degree) To a given extent or degree.
    "The ribbon was that thin." "I disagree, I say it was not that thin, it was thicker... or maybe thinner..."
  2. (degree) To a great extent or degree; very, particularly (in negative constructions).
    I'm just not that sick.
    I did the run last year, and it wasn't that difficult.
    Synonyms: so
  3. (informal, Britain, Australia) To such an extent; so. (in positive constructions).
    Ooh, I was that happy I nearly kissed her.
    • 1693, John Hacket, Scrinia reserata: a Memorial offered to the great Deservings of John Williams (Archbishop Williams):
      This was carried with that little noise that for a good space the vigilant Bishop was not awak'd with it.
Translations Translations Noun

that (plural thats)

  1. (philosophy) Something being indicated that is there; one of those.
    • 1998, David L. Hall, Roger T. Ames, Thinking from the Han, page 247:
      As such, they do not have the ontological weight of "Being" and "Not-being," but serve simply as an explanatory vocabulary necessary to describe our world of thises and thats.



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