then

adv

1. (not-comparable)At that time.

   “He was happy then.”

   “And the Canaanite was then in the land.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. (not-comparable)Soon afterward.

   “He fixed it, then left.”

   “Turn left, then right, then right again, then keep going until you reach the service station.”

   “And then came an invitation to tonight's ball.”

   “First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

   “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.”

3. (not-comparable, sequence)Next in order of place.

   “There are three green ones, then a blue one.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

4. (not-comparable)In addition; also; besides.

   “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 […]”

5. (conjunctive, not-comparable)In that case.

   “If it’s locked, then we’ll need the key.”

   “Is it 12 o’clock already? Then it’s time for me to leave.”

   “You don’t like potatoes? What do you want me to cook, then?”

   “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."”

   “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: […]”

6. (not-comparable, sequence)At the same time; on the other hand.

   “That’s a nice shirt, but then, so is the other one.”

   “The forms inheritress and inheritrix are used only in literature, and then but rarely.”

7. (UK, dialectal, not-comparable)Used to contradict an assertion.

   “‘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.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Being so at that time.

   “He had met his then girlfriend when he had just started university. The relationship ended unhappily when the girlfriend complained that he never wanted to go out.”

   “It all started when Nick Farmer bought George R. R. Martin a drink, but the plot really thickened when the linguist met Martin’s then-assistant Ty Franck.”

   “It’s been nearly four years since China put tariffs on American-grown soybeans during a tit-for-tat trade war with then-President Donald Trump – and they remain in place despite the change in administrations.”

   “Four years ago, 57 million tuned in to the only vice presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle between Harris and then-Vice President Mike Pence.”

noun

1. That time.

   “It will be finished before then.”

conj

1. (alt-of, obsolete)Obsolete spelling of than.

   “[…]his hand, more ſad [i.e., heavy, hard] then lomp of lead,[…]”

   “And as a Pible caſt into a Spring, / Wee ſee a ſort of trembling cirkles riſe, / One forming other in theyr iſſuing / Till ouer all the Fount they circulize, / So this perpetuall-motion-making kiſſe, / Is propagate through all my faculties, / And makes my breaſt an endleſſe Fount of bliſſe, / Of which, if Gods could drink, theyr matchleſſe fare / Would make them much more bleſſed then they are.”

   “Clow[ne]. O they haue lyud long on the almſbaſket of wordes. I maruaile thy M.hath not eaten thee for a worde, for thou art not ſo long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: Thou art eaſier ſwallowed then a flapdragon.”

   “To ſet the minde on the racke of long meditation (you ſay) is a torment: to follow the ſwift foote of your hound alday long, hath no wearineſſe: what would you ſay of him that finds better game in his ſtudie, then you in the fielde, and would account your diſport his puniſhment? ſuch there are, though you doubt and wonder.”

2. (alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of than.

name

1. A surname.