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Against vs Through - What's the difference?

against | through |

As prepositions the difference between against and through

is that against is A close but separated relationship.through is from one side of an opening to the other.

As adverbs the difference between against and through

is that against is in opposition to something while through is from one side to the other by way of the interior.

As a conjunction against

is by the time that (something happened); before.

As an adjective through is

passing from one side of an object to the other.

As a noun through is

a large slab of stone laid on a tomb.

against

English

Alternative forms

* againest (obsolete), agaynst (obsolete), agaynest (obsolete) * agenst (obsolete), agenest (obsolete), ageinst (obsolete), ageinest (qualifier), ageynst (obsolete), ageynest (qualifier), agin (colloquial or humorous)

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • A close but separated relationship.
  • #In a contrary direction to.
  • #:
  • #Close to.(rfex)
  • #:
  • #*
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.
  • #In front of; before a background.
  • #:
  • #In physical contact with.
  • #:
  • #In physical opposition to, or in collision with.
  • #:
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=3/19/2
    • , passage=Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house?; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something?; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.}}
  • A contrasting or competitive relationship.
  • #In contrast and/or comparison with.
  • #:
  • #In competition with, versus.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
  • #*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 24, author=Aled Williams, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Chelsea 4-1 Swansea , passage=The breakthrough came through Torres who, pilloried for his miss against Manchester United a week earlier, scored his second goal of the season.}}
  • #In opposition to.
  • #:
  • #*
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}
  • #*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
    • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist), passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • In exchange for.(rfex)
  • As counterbalance to.(rfex)
  • As a charge on.(rfex)
  • As protection from.
  • :
  • *{{quote-journal, year=1988, date=March 1, author=Caroni, Pico, coauthors=Schwab, Martin E. , title=Antibody against myelin associated inhibitor of neurite growth neutralizes nonpermissive substrate properties of CNS white matter, journal=Neuron citation
    • , passage=Monoclonal antibodies were raised against these proteins: IN-1 and IN-2 bound both to the 35 kd and 250 kd inhibitors and to the surface of differentiated cultured oligodendrocytes.}}
  • (lb) Exposed to.(rfex)
  • In anticipation of; in preparation for (a particular time, event etc.).
  • *, II.11:
  • *:He wrote to a friend of his, that he lived but with browne bread and water, and entreated him to send him a piece of cheese, against the time he was to make a solemne feast.

    • Synonyms

    * (in competition with) versus

    Antonyms

    * for * with

    Conjunction

    (head)
  • (obsolete) By the time that (something happened); before.
  • * , II.ix:
    • Thence she them brought into a stately Hall, / Wherein were many tables faire dispred, / And ready dight with drapets festiuall, / Against the viaundes should be ministred.
  • * 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 6:
    • He now gave Mrs Deborah positive orders to take the child to her own bed, and to call up a maid-servant to provide it pap, and other things, against it waked.

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In opposition to something.
  • (gambling) Having a specified likelihood of not winning or happening.

    • Statistics

    *

    through

    English

    Alternative forms

    * thorow (obsolete) * thru

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) *. See also thorough.

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • From one side of an opening to the other.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
    • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • Entering, then later leaving.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging.He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
  • *
  • *:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= No hiding place , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.}}
  • Surrounded by (while moving).
  • :
  • *, chapter=1
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • By means of.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 28, author=Tom Rostance, title=Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos
    • , work=BBC Sport citation , passage=But the home side were ahead in the eighth minute through 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • (lb) To (or up to) and including, with all intermediate values.
  • :
    • Derived terms
    (terms derived using the preposition "through") * clear through * feedthrough * get through * go through * look through * right through * through and through * through with * throughput * throughway

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Passing from one side of an object to the other.
  • :
  • Finished; complete.
  • :
  • Valueless; without a future.
  • :
  • No longer interested.
  • :
  • *
  • *:“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
  • *1977 , Iggy Pop,
  • *:I'm worth a million in prizes / Yeah, I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk / No more beating my brains / No more beating my brains / With the liquor and drugs / With the liquor and drugs
  • Proceeding from origin to destination without delay due to change of equipment.
  • :

    • Adverb

    (-)
  • From one side to the other by way of the interior.
    • The arrow went straight through .
  • From one end to the other.
    • Others slept; he worked straight through .
    She read the letter through .
  • To the end.
    • He said he would see it through .
  • Completely.
    • Leave the yarn in the dye overnight so the color soaks through .
  • Out into the open.
    • The American army broke through at St. Lo.

    References

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

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A large slab of stone laid on a tomb.

    • Statistics

    * 100 English basic words 200 English basic words English locatives