Around vs Past - What's the difference?
around | past |
Defining a circle or closed curve containing a thing.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title= 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= *{{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= At various places in.
* , chapter=10
, title= Alive; existing.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= 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= From one state or condition to an opposite or very different one; with a metaphorical change in direction; bringing about awareness or agreement.
Partially or completely rotated, including to face in the opposite direction.
The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
* D. Webster
* Trench
(grammar) The past tense.
Having already happened; in the past; finished.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=7 (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.
* 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 538:
* 2009 , , Glencoe , Amberley 2009, p. 20:
Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 23, work=(The Guardian), author=Angelique Chrisafis
, title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election
(grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state.
beyond in place, quantity or time
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=April 22
, author=Sam Sheringham
, title=Liverpool 0-1 West Brom
, work=BBC Sport
As prepositions the difference between around and past
is that around is defining a circle or closed curve containing a thing while past is beyond in place, quantity or time.As adjectives the difference between around and past
is that around is alive; existing while past is having already happened; in the past; finished.As adverbs the difference between around and past
is that around is generally while past is in a direction that passes.As a noun past is
the period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.around
English
(translation tables should match senses)Alternative forms
* arownd (obsolete)Preposition
(English prepositions)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.}}
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.}}
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.}}
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/wraparoundAdjective
(-)Lee S. Langston
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 aroundAdverb
(-)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.}}
- (see bring around, come around)
- (see bring around, come around)
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
* aboutpast
English
(wikipedia past)Noun
(en noun)- a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past
- The past , at least, is secure.
- The present is only intelligible in the light of the past , often a very remote past indeed.
Derived terms
(Terms derived from the noun "past") * blast from the past * in the past * past anterior * past continuous * past historic * past participle * past perfect * past progressive * past simple * past tense * simple pastSee also
* preteriteAdjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
- That had been, what, three years past ?
- Some four decades past , as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].
citation, passage=Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.}}
Preposition
(English prepositions)- the room past mine
- count past twenty
- past midnight
citation, page= , passage=But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.}}