at the time
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
during a specific period
Literally: at a point in the past or future
Register: neutral
Examples
It was raining at the time the opening match of the World Cup happened.Trời mưa vào thời điểm trận khai mạc World Cup diễn ra.
I didn’t have any faith in myself at the time.Tôi đã không có chút niềm tin nào vào bản thân mình vào thời điểm đó.
Tatoeba sentence #11392966 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Everyday learner phrase (CEFR A2); level cross-referenced from published learner lists. Definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “at the time” mean?
during a specific period Literally: at a point in the past or future
Is “at the time” formal or informal?
at the time is generally neutral.