What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Around vs For - What's the difference?

around | for |

As a preposition around

is defining a circle or closed curve containing a thing.

As an adjective around

is alive; existing.

As an adverb around

is generally.

As a noun for is

oven.

around

English

(translation tables should match senses)

Alternative forms

* arownd (obsolete)

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • Defining a circle or closed curve containing a thing.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • Following the perimeter of a specified area and returning to the starting point.
  • Following a path which curves near an object, with the object on the inside of the curve.
  • *
  • , 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-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond
  • Near; in the vicinity of.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • At various places in.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.}}

    Derived terms

    * all around * aroundness * around the clock * around the bend * around the corner * around the world * bat around * beat around the bush * get around * go around * hang around * have been around * ring-around-the-rosy * round * run around/run-around/runaround * turn around/turnaround * wrap around/wraparound

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Alive; existing.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston
  • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}

    Derived terms

    * be around

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Generally.
  • From place to place.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=80, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The climate of Tibet: Pole-land , passage=Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around , it changes everything.}}
  • From one state or condition to an opposite or very different one; with a metaphorical change in direction; bringing about awareness or agreement.
  • (see bring around, come around)
    (see bring around, come around)
  • Partially or completely rotated, including to face in the opposite direction.
  • Derived terms

    (indicating repeated or continuous action) * boss around * fool around * fuck around * goof around * horse around * lie around * lounge around * mess around * monkey around * play around * shop around * sleep around (from place to place) * kick around * know one's way around * (soplink) * (soplink) * (soplink) * (soplink) * push around * (soplink)

    See also

    * about

    for

    English

    (wikipedia for)

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • Because.
  • * 1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) , Chapter 23
  • "By means of the Golden Cap I shall command the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City," said Glinda, "for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler."

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Towards.
  • The astronauts headed for the moon.
  • Directed at, intended to belong to.
  • I have something for you.
  • Supporting (opposite of against ).
  • All those for the motion raise your hands.
  • Because of.
  • He wouldn't apologize; and just for that, she refused to help him.
    (UK usage) He looks better for having lost weight.
    She was the worse for drink.
  • * Shakespeare
  • with fiery eyes sparkling for very wrath
  • Over a period of time.
  • They fought for days over a silly pencil.
  • * Garth
  • To guide the sun's bright chariot for a day.
  • Throughout an extent of space.
  • * Shakespeare
  • For many miles about / There's scarce a bush.
  • On behalf of.
  • I will stand in for him.
  • Instead of, or in place of.
  • * Bible, Exodus xxi. 23, 24
  • And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for' life, eye '''for''' eye, tooth '''for''' tooth, hand '''for''' hand, foot ' for foot.
  • In order to obtain or acquire.
  • I am aiming for completion by the end of business Thursday.
    He's going for his doctorate.
    Do you want to go for coffee?
    People all over Greece looked to Delphi for answers.
    Can you go to the store for some eggs?
    I'm saving up for a car.
    Don't wait for an answer.
    What did he ask you for ?
  • * Denham
  • He writes not for' money, nor ' for praise.
  • In the direction of:
  • Run for the hills!
    He was headed for the door when he remembered.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • We sailed from Peru for China and Japan.
  • By the standards of, usually with the implication of those standards being lower than one might otherwise expect.
  • Fair for its day.
    She's spry for an old lady.
  • Despite, in spite of.
  • * 1892 August 6, , "The Unbidden Guest", in All the Year Round , ] [http://books.google.com/books?id=XNwRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA133&dq=%22but+for%22 page 133,
  • Mr. Joseph Blenkinshaw was perhaps not worth quite so much as was reported; but for all that he was a very wealthy man
  • * 1968 , J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (page 240)
  • For all his faults, there had been something lofty and great about him - as a judge, as a patron of education, as a builder, as an international figure.
  • For that to happen now is incredibly unlikely.'' (=''It is incredibly unlikely that that will happen now. )
    All I want is for you to be happy.'' (=''All I want is that you be happy. )
  • (chiefly, US) Out of;
  • (cricket) (used as part of a score to indicate the number of wickets that have fallen)
  • Indicating that in the character of or as being which anything is regarded or treated; to be, or as being.
  • * Cowley
  • We take a falling meteor for a star.
  • * John Locke
  • If a man can be fully assured of anything for' a truth, without having examined, what is there that he may not embrace ' for true?
  • * Dryden
  • Most of our ingenious young men take up some cry'd-up English poet for their model.
  • * Philips
  • But let her go for an ungrateful woman.
  • See the entry for the phrasal verb.
  • (obsolete) Indicating that in prevention of which, or through fear of which, anything is done.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • We'll have a bib, for spoiling of thy doublet.

    Antonyms

    * against

    Derived terms

    * for good * for good and all * for good measure * for it * for kicks * for real * for the record * once and for all

    Statistics

    *

    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