adjective, definite article

1. that (one) being spoken of or already mentioned the story ended that (one) which is present, close, nearby, etc., as distinguished from all others viewed as remote the day just started, the heat is oppressive that (one) designated or identified, as by a title the President (of the U.S.), the Mississippi (River) that (one) considered outstanding, most fashionable, etc.: usually italicized in print that's the restaurant in town that (one) belonging to a person previously mentioned or understood take me by the hand, rub into the face one specified period of time, esp. a decade the Dark Ages, the seventiesInformal that (one) who has a specific family relationship to one the wife, the kid sister
2. an attributive adjective the front door a relative clause the man who answered a prepositional phrase the hit of the week an infinitive phrase the right to strike a participle follow the directions given
3. one taken as the representative of the entire genus or type learn to use the typewriter, the cow is a domestic animal an adjective used as a noun the good, the beautiful, the true

Etymology: ME, indeclinable article < OE se (nom. masc. article) with th- < other case & gender forms (thone, thæs, thære, thæm, thy): for IE base see that; the meaning is controlled by the basic notion “previously recognized, noticed, or encountered” in distinction to a, an

adverb

1. that much; to that extent the better to see you with
2. by how much . . . by that much; to what extent . . . to that extent: used in a correlative construction expressing comparison the sooner the better