conjunctive phrase · neutral
until then
/ənˈtɪl ˈðen/un·TIL·then
speakingtask2
up to that time; before that point
Examples
“He had never left his hometown until then.”
“The museum was closed for months, and until then we couldn't see the new exhibits.”
“Until then, I had no idea how hard the job would be.”
Band 8 sentence
“Until then, the policy had been effective, but mounting economic pressures soon required revision.”
Collocations
- Until then + clause (describing the period up to that moment)
Word family
till then phrase'til then phrase (informal)
Common mistakes
before then→until then
since then→until then
Say it for a higher band
5before that→6till then→7+until then
Synonyms
till then
Easily confused
by then
“He had quit smoking by then.”
Related words
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In Sequence
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