At is a preposition. We use at to refer to time or place.

What is meant by AT and T?

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: ComputersAT&T /ˌeɪ tɪː ənd ˈtiː/ (American Telephone and Telegraph) a large US company that provides telephone and digital services and equipment.

At&t wireless home phone and internet unlimited data

On the Internet, @ (pronounced "at" or "at sign" or "address sign") is the symbol in an E-mail address that separates the name of the user from the user's Internet address, as in this hypothetical e-mail address example: [email protected]

Table of Contents Show

History of the at sign
What is the use at?
What is example of AT?
What is meant by AT and T?
How to use at in a sentence?

In business, @ is a symbol meaning "at" or "each." For example, it means "each" in "4 apples @ $.35 = $1.40." Perhaps because it was one of the standard characters designed into typewriters (usually with the upper shift key pressed), the @ was chosen for inclusion as one of the special characters in the ASCII set of characters that became standard for computer keyboards, programs, and online message transmission.

History of the at sign

In July, 1972, as the specifications for the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) were being written, someone suggested including some e-mail programs written by Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at Bolt Beranek and Newman, chief contractor on ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the precursor of the Internet. In their book, Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon describe how the @ sign got there:

Tomlinson....became better known for a brilliant (he called it obvious) decision he made while writing [the e-mail] programs. He needed a way to separate, in the e-mail address, the name of the user from the machine the user was on. How should that be denoted? He wanted a character that would not, under any circumstances, be found in the user's name. He looked down at the keyboard he was using, a Model 33 Teletype, which almost everyone else on the Net used, too. In addition to the letters and numerals there were about a dozen punctuation marks. "I got there first, so I got to choose any punctuation I wanted," Tomlinson said. "I chose the @ sign." The character also had the advantage of meaning "at" the designated institution. He had no idea he was creating an icon for the wired world.

This was last updated in October 2021

Related Terms

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Their older son has graduated, but their younger son is still at school. [=is still attending school]

Who was at the controls when the accident occurred?

— used to indicate the person or thing toward which an action, motion, or feeling is directed or aimed

She pointed her gun at the target.
His anger is directed at his brother.
She shouted (words of) abuse at me.
She grabbed at my arm. [=she tried to grab my arm]

— used to indicate something that is being tried or attempted

I made an attempt at persuading him to go.
I took a shot at doing it myself. [=I tried to do it myself]

: because of or in reaction to (something)

She's furious at how slowly the investigation is proceeding.

— used to indicate the cause of an action, feeling, etc.

I was greatly surprised at [=by] the result. [=the result surprised me greatly]
He enlisted in the army at his father's urging. [=because his father urged him to]
She visited the museum at my suggestion.
They came here at our invitation.
You can act at your own discretion.

— used to indicate an activity

He's very serious when he's at work. [=when he's working]
children who are at play [=children who are playing]
She's good at (playing) chess. [=she plays chess well]
I'm bad at cooking. [=I'm a bad cook, I do not cook well]
She's doing very well at her studies.

— used to indicate a situation or condition

I'm not at liberty to discuss that.
two nations that are at war

a — used to indicate position on a scale or in a series

The temperature is at 90 degrees.
He was driving at almost 80 miles an hour.

b — used to indicate a rate

They sell at [=for] a dollar a dozen. [=each dozen costs one dollar]

— used to indicate an age or time

He plans to retire at (age) 65.
He called us at (about/exactly) 9 o'clock on July 24.
I still think of her at certain moments/times.
He was president of the company at (the time of) his death.

— used to indicate the method by which something is done

The property was sold at auction.

a — used in phrases like at best, at worst, etc., to indicate a possible result or condition that is considered best, worst, etc.

The company will make a small profit at best this year. [=it is not possible that the company will earn anything better/more than a small profit]
We might be 5 or 10 minutes late at worst. [=we will not be more than 5 or 10 minutes late]
We should arrive by noon at the latest. [=we should not arrive later than noon]

b — used in phrases like at its best, at its worst, etc., to indicate that something or someone is as good, bad, etc., as possible

This is baseball at its best.
He's often rude, and last night he was at his worst.

◊ The word at is used in speech in e-mail addresses.

“Can I e-mail you?” “Sure. Our e-mail address is ‘comments at Merriam-Webster dot com.’”

In writing, the symbol @ is used instead.

: doing some activity

I didn't expect her to have started working yet, but she was already (hard) at it when I arrived. [=she was already working (hard) when I arrived]
My neighbors are always arguing, and they were at it again last night. [=they were arguing again last night]
Since we're cleaning the kitchen, we should wash the floor while we're at it. [=we should wash the floor when we clean the kitchen]

What is the use at?

At is a preposition. We use at to refer to time or place.

What is example of AT?

The prepositions at, in, on.

What is meant by AT and T?

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: ComputersAT&T /ˌeɪ tɪː ənd ˈtiː/ (American Telephone and Telegraph) a large US company that provides telephone and digital services and equipment.

How to use at in a sentence?

Example Sentences Using “At”.

I sat at my table and cried. ( ... .

Let's meet at 11:45..

The car will stop at the curb..

The dog scratched at the screen..

Their wedding was at the town hall..

There were tens of thousands of people at JLo's latest concert..

They laughed at all his jokes..

The tiger lunged at the monkey..