at last
427
1.0
- idiom
- /ət læst/
:
por fin
- After waiting for hours, we were at last allowed to enter the concert hall.
- home at last
- Here at last
- come at last
If I only had such and such, then at last I would live happily ever after.
- If I only had such and such, then at last I would live happily ever after.
- He lights the fuse at last and turns to walk away, his tread careful.
- And how can we best embrace this treasure that is about at last to be returned to us?
- Impeached at last, impeached at last.
- We gather here at last, returning home to mark this moment.
- I felt so proud when I saw what was happening because I thought at last, at last it's happened.
Examples
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Now, over a century after they were created, we can at last imagine just how glorious those paintings were.
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At last, they were together.
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I see you now and at last I see the light.
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Which leads us at last to the whole point.
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I felt so proud when I saw what was happening because I thought at last, at last it's happened.
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That he would take you in his arms and say, "At last, we're together"?
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You got away at last.
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Do not forget me, I cried when at last I reached him.
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We gather here at last, returning home to mark this moment.
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We have at last achieved our political emancipation.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Shows that something happens at the end of a long wait
∞
3.0
After a long time
864
4.0
In the end, after everything else is done
790
1.0
Finally, after everything has been thought about
Antonyms
How Final
Surface Forms
Morphology
at + last
The meaning 'finally; after a long wait' is directly inferable from 'last' (coming at the end) combined with the locative/temporal sense of 'at' pointing to a point in time, so the composition yields 'at the final point' which maps to 'finally'. This is a common, compositional pattern found across many languages, so an average B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
The phrase at last comes from the idea of the 'last' or final moment after a long wait. Picture someone reaching the last step of a long journey; when they arrive they say at last because it means 'finally' and the wait is over.