not but

conjunction

Introducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: "it is not that (the following clause) is not the case".

First used 17th c.
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Meanings

conjunction
  1. archaicIntroducing a subordinate clause, frequently with that or what: "it is not that (the following clause) is not the case".First known use 17th c.

    I believe you they dread him. Not but what he's artful, even in his defiance of them.

    1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VI, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 94
    5 more examples

    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.

    1717, Alexander Pope, A Discourse on Pastoral Poetry

    [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 […].

    1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

    Not but your father has good qualities, and I assure you I remember him a very fine gentleman himself.

    1768, Isaac Bickerstaff, Lionel and Clarissa

    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.

    1792, Jane Austen, ‘Lesley Castle’, Juvenilia

    '[…] 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. […]'

    1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA

not but. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20but

MLA

“not but.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20but. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “not but,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20but.

Source: not but on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.