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Age vs Before - What's the difference?

age | before |

As a proper noun age

is .

As a preposition before is

earlier than (in time).

As an adverb before is

at an earlier time.

As a conjunction before is

in advance of the time when.

age

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime.
  • (uncountable) That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; specifically the size of that part.
  • (uncountable) The latter part of life; an advanced period of life, eld; seniority; state of being old.
  • (countable) One of the stages of life; as, the age of infancy, of youth, etc.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age' seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the ' age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • (uncountable) Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities.
  • (countable) The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested.
  • (countable) A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.}}
  • (countable) A great period in the history of the Earth.
  • (countable) A century; the period of one hundred years.
  • The people who live at a particular period.
  • (countable) A generation.
  • (countable, hyperbole) A long time.
  • Synonyms

    * (latter part of life) dotage, old age, eld

    Derived terms

    * act one's age * age before beauty * aged * ageism * age discrimination * age distribution * age group * ageist * ageless * age limit * agelong * Age of Aquarius * age of consent * Age of Enlightenment * age of majority * Age of Reason * age-old * age rating * age-reversal * ages * age spot * ageing, aging * all ages * atomic age/Atomic Age * bone age * Bronze Age * come of age/coming of age * coon's age * dark age/Dark Ages * day and age/in this day and age * drinking age * emotional age * for the ages * full age * golden age * heroic age * ice age * Industrial Age * Iron Age * jazz age * legal age * mental age * Middle Ages * New Age * new-age * nuclear age * of age * old-age * prehistoric age * school age * silver age * space age/space-age * Stone Age * teenage, teenager * under age/underage * voting age * youth-on-age

    Verb

  • To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to.
  • (figuratively) To postpone an action that would extinguish something, as a debt.
  • (accounting) To categorize by age.
  • To grow aged; to become old; to show marks of age.
  • * Holland
  • They live one hundred and thirty years, and never age for all that.
  • * Landor
  • I am aging ; that is, I have a whitish, or rather a light-coloured, hair here and there.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz
  • , title= Stents to Prevent Stroke, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=As we age , the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time.}}

    See also

    * *

    Statistics

    *

    before

    English

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Earlier than (in time).
  • * (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 11, author=Rory Houston, work=RTE Sport
  • , title= Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland , passage=Stephen Ward then had to time his tackle excellently to deny Tarmo Kink as the Wolves winger slid the ball out of play before the Estonian could attempt to beat Given.}}
  • In front of in space.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.
  • *
  • He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
  • Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
  • * (John Ayliffe) (1676-1732)
  • If a suit be begun before an archdeacon
  • In store for, in the future of (someone).
  • * (Thomas Carlyle) (1795-1881)
  • The golden ageis before us.
  • In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
  • At a higher or greater position in a ranking.
  • * (Bible), (w) i. 15
  • He that cometh after me is preferred before me.
  • * (Samuel Johnson) (1709-1784)
  • The eldest son is before the younger in succession.

    Synonyms

    * (earlier than in time) by, no later than * (in front of in space) ahead of, in front of * (in front of according to an ordering system) ahead of

    Antonyms

    * (earlier than in time) after, later than * (in front of in space) behind * (in front of according to an ordering system) after

    Adverb

    (-)
  • At an earlier time.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}
  • In advance.
  • At the front end.
  • * 1896 , (Hilaire Belloc), The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts , :
  • When people call this beast to mind,
    They marvel more and more
    At such a (little) tail behind,
    So LARGE a trunk before .

    Synonyms

    * (at an earlier time) previously * (in advance) ahead * (at the front end) in front

    Antonyms

    * (at an earlier time) after * (at the front end) behind

    Derived terms

    * beforehand * beforetime

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • in advance of the time when
  • (informal) rather or sooner than
  • Synonyms

    * (rather than) lest

    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