How do you use the word "but" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "but" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "but": I may be antisocial, but it doesn't mean I don't talk to people. I'd be unhappy, but I wouldn't kill myself.

But Meaning

/ˈbʌt/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

prepApart from, except (for), excluding.

prepOutside of.

Sentence Examples

I may be antisocial, but it doesn't mean I don't talk to people.

I'd be unhappy, but I wouldn't kill myself.

We've had nothing but trouble with this car.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

just simply

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

She wanted to go to the party, ____ her parents said she must stay home.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

I wanted to go to the park, ____ it started to rain very hard today.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English but, buten, boute, bouten, from Old English būtan (“without, outside of, except, only”), from Proto-West Germanic *biūtan, *biūtini, equivalent to be- + out. Cognate with Scots but, bot (“outside, without, but”), Saterland Frisian buute (“without”), West Frisian bûten (“outside of, apart from, other than, except, but”), Dutch buiten (“outside”), Dutch Low Saxon buten (“outside”), German Low German buuten, buute (“outside”), obsolete German baußen (“outside”), Luxembourgish baussen. Compare bin, about.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little option but to point to the spot." — 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:

"If they kill us, we shall but die." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 7:4:

"For to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love for ever." — 1791, Robert Burns, Ae Fond Kiss:

"In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad." — 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:

"Now the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was as powerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere." — 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:

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