at that time

at that time

1. At the time referred to (by the present discussion), which is in the past for many discussions but is in the future for others.

   Coordinate terms: at the moment, at present, now; back then, back in the day

   Near-synonym: at the time (often synonymous depending on the timeline of recounting)

   You have to keep in mind that there were no computers at that time.

   You have to remember that this database field is asking for your best estimate of what the exchange rate will be at that time — not today's exchange rate.

   • 1806, Charles Heath, Monmouthshire:

     At that time, the interior was choaked up with rubbish, several feet above the present surface, and overspread with ashlings, alders, and trees, the growth of such situations, to a very considerable height.

   • 1850, Thomas De Quincey, “Shakspeare”, in Biographical Essays, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 4:

     [T]he traditional memory of a rural and a sylvan region, such as Warwickshire at that time was, is usually exact as well as tenacious

   • 1948 September and October, “Weekend Works in the Severn Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 299:

     At that time it was thought that the critical section, in which an irruption of water from the river was to be feared, lay under the Shoots, but this proved not to be the case.