at a time
English
[edit]Prepositional phrase
[edit]- In a single, continuous period of time.
- He manages to abstain from smoking for weeks at a time, but then gives in and starts again.
- Simultaneously at each occurrence (of some action).
- climb stairs two at a time
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 58–59:
- The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. […] Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.
Synonyms
[edit]- (in a single, continuous period of time): in a row, at a stretch
- (simultaneously at each occurrence): at once, at one time, at the same time, simultaneously, together; see also Thesaurus:simultaneously
Antonyms
[edit]- (antonym(s) of “simultaneously at each occurrence”): individually, one at a time, piecemeal, separately, severally, singly
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]in a continuous period
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simultaneously