"not but" meaning in All languages combined

See not but on Wiktionary

Conjunction [English]

Head templates: {{en-head|conj}} not but
  1. (now rare, archaic) Introducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: "it is not that (the following clause) is not the case". Tags: archaic
    Sense id: en-not_but-en-conj-k3TS2kVX Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "conj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 17th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              144,
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          ],
          "ref": "1717, Alexander Pope, A Discourse on Pastoral Poetry:",
          "text": "Spenser's Calendar, in Mr Dryden's opinion, is the most complete work of this kind which any nation has produced ever since the time of Virgil. Not but that he may be thought imperfect in some few points.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          ],
          "ref": "1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "[H]e did not fail to be extremely disconcerted at his first entrance into a scene of life to which he was totally a stranger. Not but that he met with abundance of people in the country […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
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          ],
          "ref": "1768, Isaac Bickerstaff, Lionel and Clarissa:",
          "text": "Not but your father has good qualities, and I assure you I remember him a very fine gentleman himself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              60,
              67
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1792, Jane Austen, ‘Lesley Castle’, Juvenilia:",
          "text": "This was the only very severe thing I ever said in my Life; not but that I have often felt myself extremely satirical but it was the only time I ever made my feelings public.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          "ref": "1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "'[…] Fanny used to say that she would marry sooner and better than you did; not but what she is exceedingly fond of you -- but so it happened to strike her. […]'",
          "type": "quotation"
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          ],
          "ref": "1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VI, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 94:",
          "text": "I believe you they dread him. Not but what he's artful, even in his defiance of them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              81,
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          ],
          "ref": "1911, Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, Penguin Classics, published 2007, page 232:",
          "text": "“[Y]ou don't believe in the actual devil?” “Do you?” retorted the woman curtly. “Not but that there are plenty of men worse than devils to make a hell of this earth,” she muttered to herself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Introducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: \"it is not that (the following clause) is not the case\"."
      ],
      "id": "en-not_but-en-conj-k3TS2kVX",
      "links": [
        [
          "that",
          "that#English"
        ],
        [
          "what",
          "what#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now rare, archaic) Introducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: \"it is not that (the following clause) is not the case\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "not but"
}
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "conj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 17th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English conjunctions",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
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          ],
          "ref": "1717, Alexander Pope, A Discourse on Pastoral Poetry:",
          "text": "Spenser's Calendar, in Mr Dryden's opinion, is the most complete work of this kind which any nation has produced ever since the time of Virgil. Not but that he may be thought imperfect in some few points.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
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            [
              126,
              133
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "[H]e did not fail to be extremely disconcerted at his first entrance into a scene of life to which he was totally a stranger. Not but that he met with abundance of people in the country […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
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          ],
          "ref": "1768, Isaac Bickerstaff, Lionel and Clarissa:",
          "text": "Not but your father has good qualities, and I assure you I remember him a very fine gentleman himself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              60,
              67
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1792, Jane Austen, ‘Lesley Castle’, Juvenilia:",
          "text": "This was the only very severe thing I ever said in my Life; not but that I have often felt myself extremely satirical but it was the only time I ever made my feelings public.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              83
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "'[…] Fanny used to say that she would marry sooner and better than you did; not but what she is exceedingly fond of you -- but so it happened to strike her. […]'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              37
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VI, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 94:",
          "text": "I believe you they dread him. Not but what he's artful, even in his defiance of them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              81,
              88
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1911, Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, Penguin Classics, published 2007, page 232:",
          "text": "“[Y]ou don't believe in the actual devil?” “Do you?” retorted the woman curtly. “Not but that there are plenty of men worse than devils to make a hell of this earth,” she muttered to herself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Introducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: \"it is not that (the following clause) is not the case\"."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "that",
          "that#English"
        ],
        [
          "what",
          "what#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now rare, archaic) Introducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: \"it is not that (the following clause) is not the case\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "not but"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.