in that

in that

which is difficult to analyse grammatically, is effectively a conjunction, but it is not easy to find in dictionaries. Shakespeare used it:

• Let him die, in that he is a Fox —2 Henry VI iii.i.257.

Fowler (1926) regarded it as obsolescent (becoming obsolete) and warned against the misuse that idiomatic expressions are liable to on their way out of the language. But Fowler's judgement was at fault, and the examples he gave were not typical of usage, and so he was tilting at windmills. The expression still has a place at the core of everyday usage and means rather more than is conveyed by because:

• They work like disks in that they can be partially erased —Management Computing, 1990

• The vessels…are unusual in that they have no engine room —Ships Monthly, 1991

• We have some similarities, in that we both make fun of rock, while loving it, intensely —film reviews website, BrE 2004 [OEC].