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Across vs To - What's the difference?

across | to |

As nouns the difference between across and to

is that across is (crosswords) a clue whose solution runs horizontally in the grid while to is thaw, weather conditions that make snow and ice melt.

As a preposition across

is to, toward or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).

As an adverb across

is from one side to the other.

across

English

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • To, toward or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
  • On the opposite side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
  • (Southern US, AAVE)  On the opposite side, relative to something that lies between, from (a point of interest).
  • * 1994 June 21, Thong P Tong <tongtp@coyote.cig.mot.comcoyote.cig.mot.com>, "Re: Battle Tech Center", message-ID <2u7lsi$79n@delphinium.cig.mot.com>, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games , Usenet [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games/msg/28d5e0700985bbe6]:
  • And make sure you're parked across the mall in the outside lot. Last time I was there, I parked in a parking structure and paid an arm and a leg for it.
  • * 1995 , (Ronald Kessler), Inside the White House , 1996 edition, ISBN 0671879197, page 243 [http://books.google.com/books?id=lJz-yIZNE2sC&pg=PA243&dq=across]:
  • On another occasion, Clinton asked to drive him to Chelsea's school, Booker Elementary, where Clinton met the department store clerk and climbed into her car.
    "I parked across the entrance and stood outside the car looking around, about 120 feet from where they were parked in a lot that was pretty well lit," Patterson recalled. "They stayed in the car for thirty to forty minutes."
  • From one side to the other within (a space being traversed).
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
  • At or near the far end of (a space).
  • * 2004 , (Josephine Cox), Lovers and Liars , ISBN 0060525479, page 78 [http://books.google.com/books?id=MSZf-siTBGUC&pg=PA78&dq=across]:
  • "Mam's baking and Cathleen's asleep. I've got a pile of washing bubbling in the copper, so I'd best be off." With that she was across the room and out the door.
  • Spanning.
  • Throughout.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=Anna Lena Phillips, volume=100, issue=2, page=172
  • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Sneaky Silk Moths , passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Chico Harlan
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Japan pockets the subsidy … , passage=Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."}}
  • So as to intersect or pass through or over at an angle.
  • * 2010 , (Alex Bledsoe), The Girls with Games of Blood , , ISBN 9780765323842, page 147 [http://books.google.com/books?id=3O878YujdCEC&pg=PA147&dq=across]:
  • He parked across the end of the driveway, blocking her in.

    Derived terms

    * across-the-board * come across * get across * put across * put one across * run across

    Adverb

    (-)
  • From one side to the other.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across . Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}
  • On the other side.
  • In a particular direction.
  • (crosswords) Horizontally.
  • Noun

    (es)
  • (crosswords) A clue whose solution runs horizontally in the grid.
  • I solved all of the acrosses , but then got stuck on 3 down.

    Statistics

    *

    to

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (dialectal) ter * (contraction) t' * (abbreviation)

    Particle

    (en-part)
  • I want to leave.
    He asked me what to do.
    I don’t know how to say it.
    I have places to''' go and people '''to see.
  • * 1711 , :
  • To' err is human, ' to forgive divine.
  • * , Scene 1:
  • To be, or not to be: that is the question: /
  • * 2010 July, , headline [http://web.archive.org/web/20100705003703/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gfMucgz8wUGUNUNXRyIyqzY6lWwQD9GM98N83]:
  • Odds are, BP to get new CEO this year
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=April 10 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=To' that end, the home supporters were in good voice ' to begin with, but it was Newcastle who started the game in the ascendancy, with Barton putting a diving header over the top from Jose Enrique's cross.}}
  • "Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to , but it was closed."
    If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to .

    Derived terms

    * going to / gonna * got to / gotta * have to / hafta * ought to / oughta * supposed to / supposta * used to / usta * want to / wanna * fixing to / finna

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • In the direction of, and arriving at.
  • We are walking to the shop.
  • * 2013 September 28, , " London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
  • Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.
  • He devoted himself to education.
    They drank to his health.
  • That is something to do.
  • His face was beaten to a pulp.
  • similar to''' ...'', ''relevant '''to''' ...'', ''pertinent '''to''' ...'', ''I was nice '''to''' him'', ''he was cruel '''to''' her'', ''I am used '''to walking.
  • (arithmetic)
  • one to one = 1:1
    ten to one = 10:1.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=April 22 , author=Sam Sheringham , title=Liverpool 0-1 West Brom , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=In total, the Reds had 28 shots to their opponent's nine, and 15 corners to the Baggies' three.}}
  • (arithmetic) .
  • Three squared or three to the second power is nine.
    Three to the power of two is nine.
    Three to the second is nine.
  • I gave the book to him.
  • (time) Preceding.
  • ten to''' ten'' = 9:50; ''We're going to leave at ten '''to (the hour).
  • (Canada, UK, Newfoundland, West Midlands) at
  • Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y.

    See also

    * at

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Toward a closed, touching or engaging position.
  • Please push the door to .
  • * 1913 ,
  • He went in his room, pushed the door to , without fastening the latch.
  • (nautical) Into the wind.
  • Synonyms

    * closed, shut

    Antonyms

    * open, ajar

    See also

    * come to * heave to * lean-to * set-to * to and fro * (English Citations of "to")

    References

    * Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

    Statistics

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