Library / English Dictionary

AT A TIME

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Simultaneously

Example:

he took three cookies at a time

Synonyms:

at a time; at once; at one time

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

 Context examples: 

But even ten minutes at a time is fine.

(Exercise and Physical Fitness, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

A pipet consisting of a small tube with a vacuum bulb at one end for drawing liquid in and releasing it a drop at a time.

(Dropper, NCI Thesaurus)

A solid dosage form containing a conglomerate of medicinal particles that have been covered with a coating which releases a drug (or drugs) at a time other than promptly after administration.

(Delayed Release Particle Tablet Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The results provide a clearer picture of magnetic reversals at a time when, as the field weakens and moves, some scientists believe we may be experiencing the early stages of a reversal.

(Earth's last magnetic field reversal took far longer than once thought, National Science Foundation)

Simulations showed the simple brain was capable of counting small quantities by closely studying one item at a time.

(Scientists Discover Bees Can Count Using Only Four Brain Cells, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In the model, Venus’ slow spin exposes its dayside to the sun for almost two months at a time.

(NASA Climate Modeling Suggests Venus May Have Been Habitable, NASA)

This means that the microcapsules could remain functional for about five rain cycles, freeing one fifth of their content at a time.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)

It’s so far away that the signals detected here today left their source at a time when life on Earth was limited to single-cell organisms.

(Mysterious Radio Signals Detected from Deep Space, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

NOTE(S): A subject moves from one epoch to another and can only be in one epoch at a time.

(Clinical Trial Epoch, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

The study surveyed 31 quasars that are seen as they were more than 12.5 billion years ago, at a time when the Universe was still an infant, only about 870 million years old.

(ESO Observations Reveal Black Holes' Breakfast at the Cosmic Dawn, ESO)