Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Introducing a reason: in that; because.
- Introducing an object or final end or purpose: equivalent to the phrases in order that, for the purpose that, to the effect that.
- Introducing a result or consequence.
- Introducing a clause as the subject or object of the principal verb, or as a necessary complement to a statement made.
- Seeing; since; inasmuch as.
- Formerly often used after a preposition, introducing a noun-clause as the object of the preposition: as, before that he came, after that they had gone, etc., where at present the that is omitted and the preposition has become a conjunction; also, by mistaken analogy with such cases, that was occasionally added after real conjunctions, as when that, where that.
- Sometimes used in place of another conjunction, in repetition.
- Used elliptically to introduce a sentence or clause expressive of surprise, indignation, or some kindred emotion.
- Used as an optative particle, or to introduce a phrase expressing a wish: would that: usually with O!
- Used as a definitive adjective before a noun, in various senses.
- Frequently in opposition to this, in which case it refers to one of two objects already mentioned, and often to the one more distant in place or time: frequently, however, mere contradistinction is implied: as, I will take this book, and you can take that one.
- Pointing not so much to persons and things as to their qualities, almost equivalent to such, or of such a nature, and occasionally followed by as or that as a correlative.
- Used absolutely or without a noun as a demonstrative pronoun.
- In opposition to this, or by way of distinction.
- When this and that refer to foregoing words, this, like the Latin hic or the French ceci, refers to the last mentioned, the latter, and that, like the Latin ille or the French cela, to the first mentioned, the former.
- In all the above cases, that, when referring to a plural noun, takes the plural form those: as, that man, those men; give me that, give me those; and so on.
- To represent a sentence or part of a sentence, or a series of sentences.
- That sometimes in this use precedes the sentence or clause to which it refers.
- That here represents the clause in italics. It is used also as the substitute for an adjective: as, you allege that the man is innocent; that he is not. Similarly, it is often used to introduce an explanation of something going before: as, “religion consists in living up to those principles—that is, in acting in conformity to them.”
- Emphatically, in phrases expressive of approbation, applause, or encouragement.
- As the antecedent of a relative: as, that which was spoken.
- By the omission of the relative, that formerly sometimes acquired the force of what or that which.
- With of, to avoid repetition of a preceding noun: as, his opinions and those of the others.
- With and, to avoid repetition of a preceding statement.
- Used for who or which.
- In the following extract that, who, and which are used without any perceptible difference.
- With the use of that as a relative are to be classed those cases in which it is used as a correlative to so or such.
- That as a demonstrative and that as a relative pronoun sometimes occur close together, but this use is now hardly approved.
- Frequently used in Chaucer for the definite article, before one or other, usually when the two words are put in contrast.
- That … he = who; that … his (or her) = whose; that … him = whom; that … they = who; which that = whom.
- To that extent; to that degree; to such a degree; so: as, I did not go that far; I did not care that much about it: the comparison being with something previously said or implied, as in the preceding examples: used colloquially to express emphasis.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- As a demonstrative pronoun (pl.
those ),that usually points out, or refers to, a person or thing previously mentioned, or supposed to be understood.That , as a demonstrative, may precede the noun to which it refers - As an adjective,
that has the same demonstrative force as the pronoun, but is followed by a noun. - As a relative pronoun,
that is equivalent towho orwhich , serving to point out, and make definite, a person or thing spoken of, or alluded to, before, and may be either singular or plural. - As a conjunction,
that retains much of its force as a demonstrative pronoun. - To introduce a clause employed as the object of the preceding verb, or as the subject or predicate nominative of a verb.
- To introduce, a reason or cause; -- equivalent to
for that ,in that ,for the reason that ,because . - To introduce a purpose; -- usually followed by
may , ormight , and frequently preceded byso ,in order ,to the end , etc. - To introduce a consequence, result, or effect; -- usually preceded by
so orsuch , sometimes bythat . - In an elliptical sentence to introduce a dependent sentence expressing a wish, or a cause of surprise, indignation, or the like.
- Archaic or in illiteral use. As adverb: To such a degree; so.
- everything of that kind; all that sort.
- See under
For , prep. - See under
In , prep.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- determiner The (thing) being indicated (at a distance from the speaker, or previously mentioned, or at another time).
- pronoun demonstrative That aforementioned quality.
- adverb degree To a given
extent ordegree ;particularly . - adverb standard in negative constructions
So , so much;very . - noun philosophy Something being indicated that is
there ; one ofthose .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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In all seriousness, I'm still not convinced that Aus is *that* bad.
The Ashes 2010-11: Barmy Army in raptures while Australia mourns 2011
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In all seriousness, I'm still not convinced that Aus is *that* bad.
The Ashes 2010-11: Barmy Army in raptures while Australia mourns 2011
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I know you've given this a lot of thought, so I don't expect to change your mind..that said, if there's any way that Pam and I can pay the favor forward and help with the logistics.
No Arisia, No Boskone gnomi 2010
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So while Verne ignored the inconvenient fact that the mountain was a glacier and said crater was non-existent or rather under ice, he wasn't *that* free with the name.
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I am very much aware that by now you must be thinking 'oh bloody hell, there is *that* woman again'.
open letter to all those good editors.... mikandra 2010
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For me, having a 50,000-70,000 word manuscript that needs *that* much editing is daunting.
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But no mainstream Biblical scholar would ever dream of looking at the way that Luke/Acts never says Jesus had a brother called James and applying the criterion of embarrassment to *that* silence.
Mythicism and Historicism as Theories (and an Altar Call to Take a Leap of Doubt) James F. McGrath 2010
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I know that clicking through to the full post isn't *that* big of a deal, but it's way more convenient to not have to.
RSS Feed Update 2010
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It's interesting to note that even apologists like Eddy and Boyd in «The Jesus Legend» admit that the language of those verses are «arguably un-Pauline» and that those verses are the only reference in the entire genuine Pauline letters «that positively requires us to accept that Paul viewed Jesus as a recent historical person» p.211.
The Death of the Mythical Messiah James F. McGrath 2010
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I've been really mulling this over, *are* there comments that might not be *that* hurtful to me?
committee meetings girliejones 2010
qroqqa commented on the word that
If, dubiously, 'that that' is grammatical as the beginning of a fused-head noun phrase (i.e. if we can say 'That that I said is true' to mean "That which I said is true" = "What I said is true") then we can construct a sentence with four consecutive uses of 'that':
It is evident that that that that nasty man said is true.
In truth, however, the sequence is illusory anyway, since the first and third uses are the subordinator 'that', while the second and fourth are the determinative, which is for all practical purposes a different word.
August 5, 2008
suzik commented on the word that
What bothers me about 'that?' I don't like it when sentient beings are referred to as 'that,' rather than as 'who.' Take that, CMS.
See also, who.
August 19, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word that
I realized today I mostly unconsciously cut out this word, especially in its conjunctionary uses, as much as possible. I wonder if this will be cited as Part of My Unique Style someday when I am a famous writer.
December 6, 2009