/ ðən; NAmE ; rare strong form ðæn/ preposition , conjunction
1.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison :
I'm older than her.
There was more whisky in it than soda.
He loves me more than you do.
It was much better than I'd expected.
You should know better than to behave like that.
I'd rather email than phone, if that's OK by you.
2.
more / less / fewer, etc. ~ used for comparing amounts, numbers, distances, etc. :
It never takes more than an hour.
It's less than a mile to the beach.
There were fewer than twenty people there.
3.
used in expressions showing that one thing happens straight after another :
No sooner had I sat down than there was a loud knock on the door.
Hardly had we arrived than the problems started.
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IDIOMS
see other adjective
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English than(ne) , thon(ne) , thænne , originally the same word as then .