a particle expressing comparison, used after certain adjectives and adverbs which express comparison or diversity, as more, better, other, otherwise, and the like. it is usually followed by the object compared in the nominative case. sometimes, however, the object compared is placed in the objective case, and than is then considered by some grammarians as a preposition. sometimes the object is expressed in a sentence, usually introduced by that; as, i would rather suffer than that you should want.-then. see then.