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➡️ Next in order 🕰️ At that time 👤 At that time (person) 📅 A specific time
then

then

1 8.0
In a job or position at that time
  • adjective
  • /ðɛn/
  • Formal
translation icon : entonces
  • He had managed to bring education back to the center of the OECD where it once was in the sixties of the last century, turning the then secretary general, Paye, around to become an education secretary general.

So then that led to a debriefing with then Doctor Eric Davis.

Examples

  • So then that led to a debriefing with then Doctor Eric Davis.

    Dr. Mayim Bialik

  • He was known as the then prime minister when the new policy was implemented.

  • Parliament then represented the whole realm, and it had two great functions long established.

  • SCANS stands for Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, the Secretary in this case being the then Secretary of Labor, Elizabeth Dole.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The committee was chaired by the then president, who had significant influence over the decisions made.

  • During her speech, she reminisced about the challenges faced by the then administration in handling the crisis.

Synonyms

former
vsthen
∞ 1.0

Existing earlier or having held a role before

is about being in a position at one specific earlier time
past
vsthen
∞ 1.0

From an earlier time, not happening now

applies specifically to being in a position at one earlier time
onetime
vsthen
12 5.6

Formerly having a particular job or status

focuses on being in office at a particular earlier moment
erstwhile
vsthen
  • Formal
9 8.4

From an earlier time and not happening now

is the neutral term for being in a position at an earlier time
sometime
vsthen
  • Formal
3 5.5

Having had a job or role in the past, not now

refers to being in a position at a specific earlier time

Idioms

now and then
  • Informal
285 1.0

Happens sometimes but not very often

every now and then
137 2.0

Sometimes, not very often

just then
52 1.7

At the exact moment something happens

then again
  • Informal
46 3.2

To show a different idea or possibility

then and there
  • Informal
45 3.2

Do something immediately at that moment

and then some
  • Informal
30 5.2

More than expected or mentioned

go on then
  • UK
6 7.7

To tell someone to start or continue after they hesitate

Surface Forms

then positive

Etymology

Then kept its meaning 'at that time' and is used before a noun to show who or what was in a role at that moment. So the phrase 'the then director' means 'the director at that time'.