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Along vs Against - What's the difference?

along | against |

As prepositions the difference between along and against

is that along is by the length of; in a line with the length of; lengthwise next to while against is A close but separated relationship.

As adverbs the difference between along and against

is that along is in company; together while against is in opposition to something.

As a conjunction against is

by the time that (something happened); before.

along

English

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • By the length of; in a line with the length of; lengthwise next to.
  • * {{quote-book, 1892, Sir (Arthur Conan Doyle), chapter=(The Adventure of the Cooper Beeches), (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), page=294 citation
  • , passage=They were waiting for me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching along the entire front of the house, with three long windows reaching down to the floor}}
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Stents to Prevent Stroke , 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.}}
  • In a line with, with a progressive motion on; onward on; forward on.
  • * Bible, 1 (w) vi. 12
  • The kinewent along the highway.
  • * {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page=266 citation
  • , passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.}}
  • * {{quote-book, 1892, Sir (Arthur Conan Doyle), chapter=(The Boscombe Valley Mystery), (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), page=93 citation
  • , passage=Swiftly and silently he made his way along the track which ran through the meadows.}}
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time.}}

    Synonyms

    * alongst (archaic)

    Derived terms

    * alongside * herealong * therealong * wherealong

    Adverb

    (-)
  • In company; together.
  • Onward, forward, with progressive action.
  • * , 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.}}

    Synonyms

    * alongst (archaic)

    Derived terms

    * go along to get along

    Derived terms

    {{der3 , all along , along of , along the lines , along those lines , along with , come along , get along , rock along }}

    Statistics

    *

    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

    *