# but

Pronunciation: say "BUT" /bʌt/

## Conjunction

1. Used to introduce something that contrasts with, qualifies or challenges what has just been said or what might be expected.
   - Simple: Introduces something different from, or against, what was just said or expected.
   - _The plan looked simple on paper, but nothing about it was simple._
   - _I wanted to call you, but my phone was dead._
2. After a negative clause or phrase, used to introduce what is true instead; on the contrary or rather.
   - Simple: Used after 'not' or another negative to show what is really true.
   - _The problem is not the cost but the delay._
   - _He was known not for his speeches but for his silences._
3. Introduces a further point, often a stronger one, after “not only,” “not just,” or “not merely,” without expressing contrast.
   - Simple: Used after not only or not just to add one more point, often a bigger one, not to show a difference.
   - _The storm not only knocked out power but flooded half the town._
   - _The report was not merely late but riddled with errors._
5. After a negative, used to mean except, as in could not but admire; in archaic use also 'who or that did not', as in no one there but had lost a friend.
   - Simple: Used after 'cannot' or 'nothing' to mean 'except', as in 'I can't help but laugh'.
   - _She could not but admire his nerve._
   - _There was no one there but had lost a friend in the war._
8. Joining an exclamation such as boy or Lord to the remark that follows, for added emphasis. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used after words like 'oh' or 'my' to make what follows stronger.
   - _Boy, but it's cold this morning!_
   - _Lord, but that man could talk._

## Preposition

4. Apart from; except or except for; excluding.
   - Simple: Except for, not including, as in 'everyone but me'.
   - _Everyone but Marcus remembered to bring a jacket for the hike._
   - _All but two of the boats came back._
12. Outside of, now used only in Scotland.
   - Simple: In Scots, 'outside', as in 'go but the house'.

## Noun

6. An objection, condition, or caveat; an instance of the word itself.
   - Simple: An objection or a reason against something, as in 'no buts'.
   - _The offer came with one large but attached._
   - _She listened to all my buts and then said yes anyway._
13. In Scotland, the outer room of a small two-room cottage, as opposed to the inner room (the ben); the kitchen. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: In Scotland, the outer room of a small two-room cottage, the kitchen.
   - _The cottage was a but and a ben and nothing more._
   - _Grandmother slept in the but by the fire._

## Adverb

7. Merely; used to stress how small, slight, or brief something is. *(literary)*
   - Simple: Only, or nothing more than.
   - _It was but a scratch, the soldier insisted._
   - _Life is but a dream, the old song says._
10. Though or however, placed at the end of a sentence. *(dialectal, Australia, Geordie, Scotland)*
   - Simple: Used at the end of a sentence to mean 'though' or 'however'.
   - _We missed the bus. Lovely walk home along the beach, but._
   - _She was rude to him. Fair enough, he'd started it, but._
17. Used between a word, typically a pronoun or adverb, and a repeat of that same word, to give the statement extra force.
   - Simple: Used between a word and the same word again to make what you say stronger, as in "nobody, but nobody".
   - _Everyone, but everyone, in town turned out for the parade._
   - _Nothing, but nothing, was going to keep him from his daughter's wedding._

## Conjunction

9. After a negative, unless, or without it also being the case that, introducing what always goes along with the event. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old use meaning unless or without, as in 'It never rains but it pours.'
   - _Hardly a week went by but the old man walked to the harbor to watch the ships._
   - _Not a day passed but she wrote to him._
15. Until or before. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Used to mean 'until' or 'before'.
16. Used to mean 'that' after a negated expression of improbability. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old use meaning 'that' after 'it is not impossible' or 'I don't doubt'.

## Noun

11. A limit or a boundary. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A limit or boundary, an old or rare use.

## Verb

14. To say the word as an objection; to raise objections. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To say 'but', in the old phrase 'but me no buts'.

## Origin

From Middle English "but," from Old English "būtan" ("without, outside of, except, only"), which comes from Proto-West Germanic and is equivalent to "be-" plus "out." It is related to Dutch "buiten" ("outside") and West Frisian "bûten" ("outside of, except").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/but (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).