then
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ðɛn/
ipa: /ðen/
rhymes: -ɛn
Forms: form: den
Etymology: From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”).
Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.
Senses: examples: text: He was happy then.
text: And the Canaanite was then in the land.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 12:6:
text: In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,[…], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: The country was shaken by the then-recent assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, which happened against the background of profound racial tensions, stark economic inequality and growing opposition to the Vietnam War.
ref: 2022 January 21, Jacopo Prisco, “Striking photographs show ‘America in Crisis’”, in CNN:
topics: temporal-location
time
glosses: At that time.
examples: text: He fixed it, then left.
text: Turn left, then right, then right again, then keep going until you reach the service station.
text: First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:24:
text: Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
topics: temporal-location
time
glosses: Soon afterward.
examples: text: There are three green ones, then a blue one.
text: Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway, and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
ref: 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
glosses: Next in order of place.
examples: text: Another legend says that now and again in the world's history a monarch appears who conquers and rules every nation under the sun. […] Then many of the Siamese believe that the animal is inhabited by the soul of some great man of the past […]
ref: 1908, E Young, “White elephants” (chapter 17), in Peeps at Many Lands: Siam, London: Adam and Charles Black, page 75:
glosses: In addition; also; besides.
examples: text: If it’s locked, then we’ll need the key.
text: Is it 12 o’clock already? Then it’s time for me to leave.
text: You don’t like potatoes? What do you want me to cook, then?
text: And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door!
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."
ref: 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, transl., The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 1:
text: That happy minute would elate me, / End all my sorrow, grief, and cares; / Then do not frown, altho' you hate me, / But smile and dissipate my fears: […]
ref: 1749, The Universal Magazine, volume 4, page 321:
glosses: In that case.
examples: text: That’s a nice shirt, but then, so is the other one.
glosses: At the same time; on the other hand.
examples: text: ‘She says Indian elephants are tidgy little things.’
 ‘They're not then.’ Emma was getting heated. ‘They're –’
 ‘Emma!’ said Jenny sharply. The child subsided.
ref: 2001, Eric Malpass, At the Height of the Moon, page 28:
qualifier: affirmation
glosses: Used to contradict an assertion.
Synonyms: sense: at that time
word: at the time
sense: at that time
word: back in the day
sense: soon afterward
word: and then
sense: soon afterward
word: and so
sense: soon afterward
word: subsequently
sense: soon afterward
word: so
word: and then
raw_tags: in order
word: followed by
sense: in that case
word: accordingly
word: as a result
word: therefore
sense: at the same time
word: concurrently
word: therewhile
word: simultaneously
word: ensuingly
word: followingly
word: hereafter
word: syne
word: then
Related terms: sense: next in order
word: if