at a time

at a time

1. In a single, continuous period of time.

   He manages to abstain from smoking for weeks at a time, but then gives in and starts again.

2. Simultaneously at each occurrence (of some action).

   climb stairs two at a time

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 58–59:

     The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. […] Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.

• (in a single, continuous period of time): in a row, at a stretch
• (simultaneously at each occurrence): at once, at one time, at the same time, simultaneously, together; see also Thesaurus:simultaneously

• (antonym(s) of “simultaneously at each occurrence”): individually, one at a time, piecemeal, separately, severally, singly

• one at a time

• Maietta, tamaite