| 释义 |
conjunctionbʌtbətbət 1Used to introduce a phrase or clause contrasting with what has already been mentioned. 用于引入与前面所述形成对比的短语和从句 he stumbled but didn't fall 他绊了一下，但没有摔倒。 this is one principle, but it is not the only one 这是一个原则，但不是惟一的原则。 the food is cheap but delicious 这食物虽便宜却好吃。 the problem is not that they are cutting down trees, but that they are doing it in a predatory way 问题不在于他们砍树，而在于掠夺性地砍。 Example sentencesExamples - I'm sure this has been pointed out a million times already but I feel that I have to as well.
- The riverside bar can not have been cheap to open, but the chain is more than reaping its reward now.
- I believe leaving the bases will be a cheaper option but also help North Sea fish stocks.
- We can destroy with a cutting quip or a damning phrase but nobody expects us to create.
- It was deserted and I didn't see a soul, but I did stumble across a bunch of Red Deer in a meadow.
- It was a little different to what I would normally eat at home but it was delicious.
- I would have liked to have had a longer deal but the get out clauses were prohibitive.
- Sure, most of the produce is much cheaper, but a lot of it isn't organically grown.
- Once you have paid the entrance fee, you feel you deserve a cracking day out, it is not cheap but it is worth it.
- This is fine in principle, but much depends on the more precise meaning given to the idea of abuse.
- We continued to talk all though the lesson, but there was no mention of the dance.
- In that Washington heat it seemed to take forever, but was still delicious an hour or so later.
- Now, everyone in the group knows about these things, but they are never mentioned.
- The parliament's visit to Aberdeen last week was not cheap, but it was money well spent.
- To develop a production facility in Ireland means a cheaper unit cost but do sales justify it?
- It was a scene which could have come out of a cheap thriller - but there was a difference.
- I know that at least two other ladies have also had falls down there but not been as seriously injured.
- On the subject of value for money, Prestonfield may not be cheap, but it is not outlandish.
- He could lower prices to increase the audience, but income would fall dramatically.
- I was quite happy being a mum, but I fell into it and it has just gone from there.
Synonyms yet nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, however, still, notwithstanding, despite that, in spite of that, for all that, all the same, just the same, at the same time, be that as it may though, although informal still and all archaic withal, natheless, howbeit 2with negative or in questions Used to indicate the impossibility of anything other than what is being stated. 用于表示没有别的可能 one cannot but sympathize 人们惟有同情。 there was nothing they could do but swallow their pride 除了忍气吞声他们别无他法。 they had no alternative but to follow Example sentencesExamples - She knew he did not want to go, but she could still not help but feel anger at him.
- What choice did the little fellow have but to respond positively to such instruction?
- Cause and effect are related in such a way that, if the first occurs, the second cannot but occur.
- This is another one of those Korean films that you cannot but have mixed feelings about.
Synonyms (do) other than, otherwise than, except 3Used to introduce a response expressing a feeling such as surprise or anger. 用于引入惊讶或愤怒的反应 but that's an incredible saving! 但那是不可思议的节省！ 那又为什么？ Example sentencesExamples - I was slow to acknowledge their response as I broke my leg, but thank you, one and all.
- We did not know what to expect, but what a fantastic surprise night, it was a real thrill.
- It is also very funny, but don't be surprised if you have to cross a protest line to see it.
- But I was trying to prove my point and the only way to do that was to speak French.
- But, without the need for slaughterhouse nor butcher.
4Used after an expression of apology for what one is about to say. 用于表歉意后引入要说的话 I'm sorry, but I can't pay you 抱歉，我无法付你钱。 Example sentencesExamples - Sorry but you would have to be completely bonkers to consider this method of control as humane!
- I'm sorry, but she laughs in her sleep and can never remember the joke in the morning.
- Apologies for getting poetic on you, but mornings like this make me think of this poem.
- Sorry Spurs but a point is all you are ever going to get from that game at Old Trafford.
- Terribly sorry, but we are not insured to give you a lift if you are not a prisoner anymore.
- Sorry to sound pious but what about the homeless, the sick, the poor and neglected?
- He came to me one day and said he was sorry, Madame, but he wanted to go and work for someone else.
- Apologies to Sylvia for swiping her quote, but it was such a good one I couldn't resist.
- For that I can only apologise but it will be interesting to see who has missed the cut.
- I apologise but it's being moved to a new server and should be up again by Saturday.
- Miss Gallafent, you have put it extremely well, but I am sorry to say I am against you.
- Please forgive me, but it is the only way I know of getting my point of view across.
- Sorry, but this must be the most ridiculous piece of research we've ever heard of.
- Apologies for posting out of my normal TV category but it's simply too good not to post.
- I am sorry to go on but I feel it is not fair that my hobby should be put at risk like this.
- Sorry to be repetitive but this guy was in the tube in Russell Square when the bomb went off!
- Sorry to say this but there are some areas where I don't trust the men in white coats.
- He told the woman that he was very sorry but he seemed to have left his wallet at home.
5archaic with negative Without it being the case that. 〈古〉若不 it never rains but it pours 不下则已，一下倾盆。 Example sentencesExamples - It never rains but it pours.
- I did read the names that one time, and never but that one time.
- Her Own Tribesmen Never but Say Her Age Is 300 Years.
prepositionbʌtbətbət 1Except; apart from; other than. 除了 we were never anything but poor 我们一直就是穷而已。 supply currently exceeds demand in all but the most rural areas 倒数第二。 Example sentencesExamples - But in a calibration of this sort he has little alternative but to take it as he finds it.
- She was shocked, too shock to do anything else but stare as he pulled her forward.
- She was too shaken and frightened to do anything else but feel safe in the arms of Peter Grayson.
- The sovereign commands the people in general ‘never but by a precedent law, and as a politic, not as a natural person’ .
- Last week a high court judge ruled that the brigade had no alternative but to give them their jobs back.
- We have to be able to imagine what it is like to feel there is no alternative but to fight and die.
- In fact, I have no alternative but to fine her a crisp crunchie for being just too good to be true.
- It's going to be a long road, but shinty has no alternative but to keep right on to the end.
- Fair enough, help out people in the Highlands who have no alternative but to drive.
- Each notice said that the Board had no alternative but to cut back production and reduce costs.
- On some London high streets it is becoming difficult to go food shopping anywhere but Tesco.
- If we want vehicles to be less polluting, then we have no choice but to find an alternative fuel.
- In this event we will have no alternative but to look to you for recompense for all incurred costs.
- So I didn't have any alternative then but to get up in front of everyone and attempt to play the thing.
- Aden was a year older than herself and she never saw him as anything else but her goofy nerd friend.
- She also said that she would have no alternative but to contact my family if I didn't seek help.
Synonyms except (for), apart from, other than, besides, aside from, with the exception of, short of, bar, barring, excepting, excluding, omitting, leaving out, save (for), saving informal outside of - 1.1 Used with repetition of certain words to give emphasis.
用于重复某词语以示强调 nobody, but nobody, was going to stop her 没有人，真是没有人去阻止她。 Example sentencesExamples - This is what I love about science: anybody but anybody can become involved at least in trying to understand what it is saying!
- Nobody, but nobody, should eat a two pound burrito.
- Why nobody, but nobody will ever take mass transit as long as they have a choice.
- Nobody, but Nobody, knows Mauritius like we do!
- Nobody, but nobody knows more about the wants and wishes of consumers of fresh agricultural products than the commodity groups that promote those products.
adverbbʌtbətbət 1No more than; only. 仅仅 he is but a shadow of his former self 他瘦得不成人形了。 choose from a colourful array of mango, starfruit, and raspberries, to name but a few 从一堆五颜六色的水果中选择，有芒果、星果和覆盆子，这里仅举几个例子。 Example sentencesExamples - I admire many artists like Gerhard Richter, Francis Bacon, and Edward Hopper to name but a few.
- Fast food, the gas station (as we knew it until the 1980's), the neon sign, and the motel to name but a few, are the affectations of the early highways.
- In an important article in April 22 Haaretz Gideon Levy points out but a few cases within the year illustrating that movement equals death.
Synonyms only, just, simply, merely, no more than, nothing but a mere Northern English informal nobbut 2Australian Scottish NZ informal (used at the end of a sentence) though; however. 〈澳/新西兰，苏格兰，非正式〉 用于句尾但是，然而 不过，他仍是个好人。
nounbʌtbətbət An argument against something; an objection. 拒绝之理由；反对 no buts—just get out of here 别找借口——你给我出去。 as with all these proposals, ifs and buts abound 在所有这些建议中，“如果”、“但是”等词甚多。 Example sentencesExamples - In the past 30 years, the food industry in Ireland, as represented by both the public and the private sectors, has created more ifs and buts than any other.
- We are not going to talk about ifs and buts, like I say, just wait for the procedure to take its place and then at the end of that, if no one has made the decision for us, we'll have to make the decision.
- No buts Christopher, she couldn't have gotten any of your possessions if you didn't give them to her yourself.
- ‘No buts,’ she said with a shake of her head as she lowered her gaze from his.
- No buts, no girls in this house while I am not home.
- I will not accept any longer, ifs and buts from the council.
- No ifs, no buts, no questions - they're sending me to Cambridge for the nine-month Masters program.
- There were no mights, no ifs, no buts, no doubts, no qualifications.
- His mother, Amy, who was washing the dishes, interrupted, ‘No buts.’
- It allows one to put out misleading simplifications as long as the caveats, ifs and buts are buried somewhere in the detailed material.
- Good days probably weren't on Lawler's mind as he sat out the dying minutes of the Westmeath game but for him the ifs and buts are always there.
- I'm going to go check out Jason, and then I'm going to check you out, no buts.
- It is a right - no ifs, no buts, and it doesn't matter who tried to take it away when.
- No excuses, no ifs and buts, enforcement is what we need.
- Sydney - no ifs, no buts - is the commercial capital of Australia.
- She brought her child into the world without any ifs and buts.
- ‘No buts,’ she cut me off, ‘Tomorrow you and I are going shopping!’
- Of all the ifs and buts, as far as I am concerned and as far as the players are concerned if we get three points on Saturday then everybody else can worry about each other.
- No buts, I've heard enough of those for today.
- When a great new revolutionary idea hits the public, there are always doubters, raising niggling ifs and buts.
UsageFor advice about using but and other conjunctions to begin a sentence, see and Phrases I walked along Broadway, deserted but for the occasional cab 我沿着百老汇走，街上除了偶尔经过的出租车几乎空无一人。 Example sentencesExamples - In the end, there's not much here but for the pulp entertainment value.
- The way down is a smooth diagonal, great for the legs, easygoing mile after mile, but for the stiles.
- High pastures rise, bare but for a wedge of trees, and redshanks swooped in quickly to the rushes by our feet.
- There really is nothing behind his eyes but for a leaky roof dripping into a pale blue bucket.
- Its All Good (but for the playing of the games).
- I'll never forget her pool in the winter - empty but for a fabulous ebony drum kit and a punch bag.
- Clint's daughter no longer speaks to him, leaving him empty but for his guilt.
- 1.1If it were not for.
要不是 the game could be over but for you 要不是你，游戏可能已结束了。 Example sentencesExamples - But even this was something that should never have happened but for the fickle hand of fate.
- It would have been even better but for the last hole when he selected a seven iron over an easy six and pulled his approach.
- It would never have been made but for the influence of French duo Daft Punk.
- Well I might subscribe to this line of reasoning but for three little letters.
- Our ancestors said we would not know the summer from the winter but for the leaves on their trees.
- Clapton would have snatched a draw but for another late goal from never-say-die Dorking.
- He could have added to his test figures but for an apparent indiscretion with alcohol.
- For example, but for running the red light, the collision would not have occurred.
- The match itself could have been one of the greats but for the sour incidents that marred it.
- How different would wages in advanced countries be if they were not - that is, how different would factor prices be but for the opportunities offered by the rise of the NIEs?
Synonyms if it were not for, were it not for, except for, without, barring, notwithstanding
archaic Other than that; except that. 〈古〉若非 she would have screamed, but that her cry would have called her masters Example sentencesExamples - There is no doubt but that Ireland has seen a surge in prices over the past five years.
- He had no doubt but that this banking system was burdensome to the citizens of the United States.
- Although there is little doubt but that all types of shrinkage, and certainly this type, have apparently always been a major area of concern for all types of concrete construction, I found out a long time ago that it is certainly true for concrete floors.
- There can be little doubt but that the methods of projective differential geometry will serve to throw a flood of light upon the theory of conjugate triple systems.
- There is no doubt but that both were on their best behaviour in this year's campaign.
After all; on the other hand (introducing a contrasting comment) it couldn't help, but then again, it probably couldn't hurt it's a very hard match, but then they all are 这是一场非常艰苦的比赛，不过所有比赛都如此。 Example sentencesExamples - Most of the people I have spoken to since agree but then they don't live in homes with gardens big enough to warrant weekly collections of garden waste!
- "But then they're bred for it, aren't they?" she adds as an afterthought.
- But then, they would be, wouldn't they?
OriginOld English be-ūtan, būtan, būta 'outside, without, except' (see by, out). Rhymesabut, butt, cut, glut, gut, hut, intercut, jut, Mut, mutt, phut, putt, rut, scut, shortcut, shut, slut, smut, strut, tut, undercut nounbʌtbət Scottish An outer room, especially in a two-roomed cottage. 〈苏格兰〉（尤指仅有两个房间的房舍的）外间 Example sentencesExamples - The 'but' was the outer room or kitchen and the 'ben' was the inner room or best room.
PhrasesA two-roomed cottage; a humble home. 两房村舍；陋室 Example sentencesExamples - In the summer and autumn of 1757 Burnes began building a but and ben (two-roomed cottage) on the nursery land at Alloway.
- The denizens of Barclay House - that's our wee but and ben in Edinburgh - were given a pantomime for light relief yesterday morning when a parking attendant dared to stick a ticket on the Scotland bus.
- To others it is a one-bedroom but and ben with a corrugated iron roof.
- He has not risen from his class, but is a miner, first, last and always, living in a "but-and-ben" stone-flagged cottage in the uplands of Lanarkshire.
- This is a Scottish holiday very much as it would have been 50 years ago, when the Broons left their tenement in Glebe Street for a two-room but and ben in an anonymous glen.
OriginEarly 18th century: from but1 in the early sense 'outside', specifically 'into the outer part of a house'. conjunctionbətbət 1Used to introduce a phrase or clause contrasting with what has already been mentioned. 用于引入与前面所述形成对比的短语和从句 he stumbled but didn't fall 他绊了一下，但没有摔倒。 this is one principle, but it is not the only one 这是一个原则，但不是惟一的原则。 the problem is not that they are cutting down trees, but that they are doing it in a predatory way 问题不在于他们砍树，而在于掠夺性地砍。 I am clean but you are dirty Example sentencesExamples - I was quite happy being a mum, but I fell into it and it has just gone from there.
- I'm sure this has been pointed out a million times already but I feel that I have to as well.
- It was deserted and I didn't see a soul, but I did stumble across a bunch of Red Deer in a meadow.
- We can destroy with a cutting quip or a damning phrase but nobody expects us to create.
- I know that at least two other ladies have also had falls down there but not been as seriously injured.
- We continued to talk all though the lesson, but there was no mention of the dance.
- I would have liked to have had a longer deal but the get out clauses were prohibitive.
- I believe leaving the bases will be a cheaper option but also help North Sea fish stocks.
- The riverside bar can not have been cheap to open, but the chain is more than reaping its reward now.
- In that Washington heat it seemed to take forever, but was still delicious an hour or so later.
- It was a scene which could have come out of a cheap thriller - but there was a difference.
- Now, everyone in the group knows about these things, but they are never mentioned.
- It was a little different to what I would normally eat at home but it was delicious.
- Sure, most of the produce is much cheaper, but a lot of it isn't organically grown.
- The parliament's visit to Aberdeen last week was not cheap, but it was money well spent.
- Once you have paid the entrance fee, you feel you deserve a cracking day out, it is not cheap but it is worth it.
- To develop a production facility in Ireland means a cheaper unit cost but do sales justify it?
- He could lower prices to increase the audience, but income would fall dramatically.
- On the subject of value for money, Prestonfield may not be cheap, but it is not outlandish.
- This is fine in principle, but much depends on the more precise meaning given to the idea of abuse.
2with negative or in questions Used to indicate the impossibility of anything other than what is being stated. 用于表示没有别的可能 one cannot but sympathize 人们惟有同情。 there was nothing they could do but swallow their pride 除了忍气吞声他们别无他法。 they had no alternative but to follow Example sentencesExamples - Cause and effect are related in such a way that, if the first occurs, the second cannot but occur.
- She knew he did not want to go, but she could still not help but feel anger at him.
- This is another one of those Korean films that you cannot but have mixed feelings about.
- What choice did the little fellow have but to respond positively to such instruction?
Synonyms other than, do other than, otherwise than, except 3Used to introduce a response expressing a feeling such as surprise or anger. 用于引入惊讶或愤怒的反应 but that's an incredible saving! 但那是不可思议的节省！ 那又为什么？ Example sentencesExamples - But, without the need for slaughterhouse nor butcher.
- We did not know what to expect, but what a fantastic surprise night, it was a real thrill.
- I was slow to acknowledge their response as I broke my leg, but thank you, one and all.
- It is also very funny, but don't be surprised if you have to cross a protest line to see it.
- But I was trying to prove my point and the only way to do that was to speak French.
4Used after an expression of apology for what one is about to say. 用于表歉意后引入要说的话 I'm sorry, but I can't pay you 抱歉，我无法付你钱。 Example sentencesExamples - Sorry, but this must be the most ridiculous piece of research we've ever heard of.
- Apologies to Sylvia for swiping her quote, but it was such a good one I couldn't resist.
- He came to me one day and said he was sorry, Madame, but he wanted to go and work for someone else.
- Sorry Spurs but a point is all you are ever going to get from that game at Old Trafford.
- I am sorry to go on but I feel it is not fair that my hobby should be put at risk like this.
- Please forgive me, but it is the only way I know of getting my point of view across.
- I'm sorry, but she laughs in her sleep and can never remember the joke in the morning.
- Sorry but you would have to be completely bonkers to consider this method of control as humane!
- He told the woman that he was very sorry but he seemed to have left his wallet at home.
- Sorry to be repetitive but this guy was in the tube in Russell Square when the bomb went off!
- Apologies for posting out of my normal TV category but it's simply too good not to post.
- For that I can only apologise but it will be interesting to see who has missed the cut.
- I apologise but it's being moved to a new server and should be up again by Saturday.
- Sorry to say this but there are some areas where I don't trust the men in white coats.
- Terribly sorry, but we are not insured to give you a lift if you are not a prisoner anymore.
- Miss Gallafent, you have put it extremely well, but I am sorry to say I am against you.
- Sorry to sound pious but what about the homeless, the sick, the poor and neglected?
- Apologies for getting poetic on you, but mornings like this make me think of this poem.
5archaic with negative Without it being the case that. 〈古〉若不 it never rains but it pours 不下则已，一下倾盆。 Example sentencesExamples - I did read the names that one time, and never but that one time.
- It never rains but it pours.
- Her Own Tribesmen Never but Say Her Age Is 300 Years.
prepositionbətbət 1Except; apart from; other than. 除了 in Texas, we were never anything but poor 我们一直就是穷而已。 倒数第二。 Example sentencesExamples - If we want vehicles to be less polluting, then we have no choice but to find an alternative fuel.
- In this event we will have no alternative but to look to you for recompense for all incurred costs.
- We have to be able to imagine what it is like to feel there is no alternative but to fight and die.
- But in a calibration of this sort he has little alternative but to take it as he finds it.
- Aden was a year older than herself and she never saw him as anything else but her goofy nerd friend.
- On some London high streets it is becoming difficult to go food shopping anywhere but Tesco.
- Fair enough, help out people in the Highlands who have no alternative but to drive.
- She was too shaken and frightened to do anything else but feel safe in the arms of Peter Grayson.
- She also said that she would have no alternative but to contact my family if I didn't seek help.
- She was shocked, too shock to do anything else but stare as he pulled her forward.
- The sovereign commands the people in general ‘never but by a precedent law, and as a politic, not as a natural person’ .
- Last week a high court judge ruled that the brigade had no alternative but to give them their jobs back.
- It's going to be a long road, but shinty has no alternative but to keep right on to the end.
- So I didn't have any alternative then but to get up in front of everyone and attempt to play the thing.
- Each notice said that the Board had no alternative but to cut back production and reduce costs.
- In fact, I have no alternative but to fine her a crisp crunchie for being just too good to be true.
Synonyms except, except for, apart from, other than, besides, aside from, with the exception of, short of, bar, barring, excepting, excluding, omitting, leaving out, save, save for, saving - 1.1 Used with repetition of certain words to give emphasis.
用于重复某词语以示强调 nobody, but nobody, was going to stop her 没有人，真是没有人去阻止她。 Example sentencesExamples - Nobody, but nobody, should eat a two pound burrito.
- Nobody, but Nobody, knows Mauritius like we do!
- Nobody, but nobody knows more about the wants and wishes of consumers of fresh agricultural products than the commodity groups that promote those products.
- Why nobody, but nobody will ever take mass transit as long as they have a choice.
- This is what I love about science: anybody but anybody can become involved at least in trying to understand what it is saying!
adverbbətbət No more than; only. 仅仅 he is but a shadow of his former self 他瘦得不成人形了。 choose from a colorful array of oranges, cherries, and raspberries, to name but a few 从一堆五颜六色的水果中选择，有芒果、星果和覆盆子，这里仅举几个例子。 Example sentencesExamples - In an important article in April 22 Haaretz Gideon Levy points out but a few cases within the year illustrating that movement equals death.
- I admire many artists like Gerhard Richter, Francis Bacon, and Edward Hopper to name but a few.
- Fast food, the gas station (as we knew it until the 1980's), the neon sign, and the motel to name but a few, are the affectations of the early highways.
Synonyms only, just, simply, merely, no more than, nothing but
nounbətbət An argument against something; an objection. 拒绝之理由；反对 no buts—just get out of here 别找借口——你给我出去。 as with all these proposals, ifs and buts abound 在所有这些建议中，“如果”、“但是”等词甚多。 Example sentencesExamples - ‘No buts,’ she cut me off, ‘Tomorrow you and I are going shopping!’
- No buts, I've heard enough of those for today.
- No ifs, no buts, no questions - they're sending me to Cambridge for the nine-month Masters program.
- We are not going to talk about ifs and buts, like I say, just wait for the procedure to take its place and then at the end of that, if no one has made the decision for us, we'll have to make the decision.
- It is a right - no ifs, no buts, and it doesn't matter who tried to take it away when.
- In the past 30 years, the food industry in Ireland, as represented by both the public and the private sectors, has created more ifs and buts than any other.
- Sydney - no ifs, no buts - is the commercial capital of Australia.
- Good days probably weren't on Lawler's mind as he sat out the dying minutes of the Westmeath game but for him the ifs and buts are always there.
- Of all the ifs and buts, as far as I am concerned and as far as the players are concerned if we get three points on Saturday then everybody else can worry about each other.
- There were no mights, no ifs, no buts, no doubts, no qualifications.
- I'm going to go check out Jason, and then I'm going to check you out, no buts.
- No buts, no girls in this house while I am not home.
- It allows one to put out misleading simplifications as long as the caveats, ifs and buts are buried somewhere in the detailed material.
- I will not accept any longer, ifs and buts from the council.
- No excuses, no ifs and buts, enforcement is what we need.
- No buts Christopher, she couldn't have gotten any of your possessions if you didn't give them to her yourself.
- She brought her child into the world without any ifs and buts.
- ‘No buts,’ she said with a shake of her head as she lowered her gaze from his.
- When a great new revolutionary idea hits the public, there are always doubters, raising niggling ifs and buts.
- His mother, Amy, who was washing the dishes, interrupted, ‘No buts.’
UsageFor advice about using but and other conjunctions to begin a sentence, see and Phrases I walked along Broadway, deserted but for the occasional cab 我沿着百老汇走，街上除了偶尔经过的出租车几乎空无一人。 Example sentencesExamples - I'll never forget her pool in the winter - empty but for a fabulous ebony drum kit and a punch bag.
- High pastures rise, bare but for a wedge of trees, and redshanks swooped in quickly to the rushes by our feet.
- Its All Good (but for the playing of the games).
- The way down is a smooth diagonal, great for the legs, easygoing mile after mile, but for the stiles.
- Clint's daughter no longer speaks to him, leaving him empty but for his guilt.
- In the end, there's not much here but for the pulp entertainment value.
- There really is nothing behind his eyes but for a leaky roof dripping into a pale blue bucket.
- 1.1If it were not for.
要不是 the game could be over but for you 要不是你，游戏可能已结束了。 Example sentencesExamples - Well I might subscribe to this line of reasoning but for three little letters.
- Clapton would have snatched a draw but for another late goal from never-say-die Dorking.
- He could have added to his test figures but for an apparent indiscretion with alcohol.
- The match itself could have been one of the greats but for the sour incidents that marred it.
- It would never have been made but for the influence of French duo Daft Punk.
- How different would wages in advanced countries be if they were not - that is, how different would factor prices be but for the opportunities offered by the rise of the NIEs?
- For example, but for running the red light, the collision would not have occurred.
- Our ancestors said we would not know the summer from the winter but for the leaves on their trees.
- But even this was something that should never have happened but for the fickle hand of fate.
- It would have been even better but for the last hole when he selected a seven iron over an easy six and pulled his approach.
Synonyms if it were not for, were it not for, except for, without, barring, notwithstanding
archaic Other than that; except that. 〈古〉若非 who knows but that the pictures painted on air are eternal 谁能说空中描绘的东西不能是永恒的呢？ Example sentencesExamples - There is no doubt but that Ireland has seen a surge in prices over the past five years.
- Although there is little doubt but that all types of shrinkage, and certainly this type, have apparently always been a major area of concern for all types of concrete construction, I found out a long time ago that it is certainly true for concrete floors.
- He had no doubt but that this banking system was burdensome to the citizens of the United States.
- There can be little doubt but that the methods of projective differential geometry will serve to throw a flood of light upon the theory of conjugate triple systems.
- There is no doubt but that both were on their best behaviour in this year's campaign.
After all; on the other hand (introducing a contrasting comment) it couldn't help, but then again, it probably couldn't hurt it's a very hard exam, but then they all are 这是一场非常艰苦的比赛，不过所有比赛都如此。 Example sentencesExamples - "But then they're bred for it, aren't they?" she adds as an afterthought.
- But then, they would be, wouldn't they?
- Most of the people I have spoken to since agree but then they don't live in homes with gardens big enough to warrant weekly collections of garden waste!
OriginOld English be-ūtan, būtan, būta ‘outside, without, except’ (see by, out). nounbətbət Scottish An outer room, especially in a two-roomed cottage. 〈苏格兰〉（尤指仅有两个房间的房舍的）外间 Example sentencesExamples - The 'but' was the outer room or kitchen and the 'ben' was the inner room or best room.
PhrasesA two-roomed cottage; a humble home. 两房村舍；陋室 Example sentencesExamples - In the summer and autumn of 1757 Burnes began building a but and ben (two-roomed cottage) on the nursery land at Alloway.
- This is a Scottish holiday very much as it would have been 50 years ago, when the Broons left their tenement in Glebe Street for a two-room but and ben in an anonymous glen.
- He has not risen from his class, but is a miner, first, last and always, living in a "but-and-ben" stone-flagged cottage in the uplands of Lanarkshire.
- To others it is a one-bedroom but and ben with a corrugated iron roof.
- The denizens of Barclay House - that's our wee but and ben in Edinburgh - were given a pantomime for light relief yesterday morning when a parking attendant dared to stick a ticket on the Scotland bus.
OriginEarly 18th century: from but in the early sense ‘outside’, specifically ‘into the outer part of a house’. |