not that

English

Conjunction

not that

1. Used to indicate that the following clause is not true and that this negatively impacts the importance of the preceding clause.

   I didn't finish my dinner today. Not that my sister is bad at cooking, but I just wasn't that hungry.

   • 2018 July 26, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “A documentary muckraker takes on the tech sector of health in The Bleeding Edge”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     Friday that it would be discontinuing sales of the former in a press release timed to turn that part of the film into a non-story; in the meantime, the latter has already cost Johnson & Johnson $300 million in settlements. Not that either company is in danger of going broke.

   • 2008 September 30, “Obama Runs Constructive Criticism Ad on McCain”, in The Onion‎^[2]:

     But that's not to say Barack Obama is perfect or anything. If McCain wanted, he could point out that Obama voted to subsidize coal interests despite his rhetoric against global warming. Not that McCain has to do that. Barack Obama is just saying.

Translations

Translations

• French: pas que (fr), non que, non pas que (fr)
• Hungarian: nem mintha
• Old English: nā þæt
• Polish: nie żeby, nie to że
• Romanian: nu că
• Spanish: no es que

References

• “not that”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “not that” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “not that”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “not that” (US) / “not that” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.