■ pronoun & determiner ( plural those )
1》 used to identify a specific person or thing observed or heard by the speaker.
↘referring to the more distant of two things near to the speaker.
2》 referring to a specific thing previously mentioned or known.
3》 used in singling out someone or something with a particular feature.
4》 informal, chiefly Brit. expressing strong agreement with something just said: ‘He's a fussy man.’ ‘He is ~.’
5》 [as pronoun ] ( plural ~ ) used instead of which, who, when, etc. to introduce a defining clause, especially one essential to identification.
■ adverb to such a degree.
↘[with negative ] informal very: he wasn't ~ far away.
■ conjunction
1》 introducing a subordinate clause.
2》 literary expressing a wish or regret.
Phrases
and all ~ (or and ~ ) informal and so on.
( just ) like ~ informal instantly or effortlessly.
~ is (or ~ is to say ) a formula introducing or following an explanation or further clarification.
~ said even so.
~'s ~ there is nothing more to do or say about the matter.
Origin
OE thæt , nominative and accusative singular neut. of se 'the', of Gmc origin.
Usage
When is it correct to use ~ and when should you use which ? The general rule is ~, when introducing clauses ~ define or identify something (known as restrictive relative clauses ), it is acceptable to use either ~ or which : a book which aims to simplify scientific language or a book ~ aims to simplify scientific language . However, which , but never ~ , should be used to introduce clauses giving additional information ( non-restrictive relative clauses ): the book, which costs £15, has sold a million copies not the book, ~ costs £15, has sold a million copies .