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Before vs History - What's the difference?

before | history |

In informal terms the difference between before and history

is that before is rather or sooner than while history is something that no longer exists or is no longer relevant.

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.

As a noun history is

the aggregate of past events.

As a verb history is

to narrate or record.

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

    history

    English

    Alternative forms

    * historie (obsolete) * hystory (nonstandard) * hystorie (obsolete)

    Noun

    (wikipedia history) (wikiversity history lecture)
  • The aggregate of past events.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=(Jan Sapp), volume=100, issue=2, page=164
  • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Race Finished , passage=Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?}}
  • The branch of knowledge that studies the past; the assessment of notable events.
  • *
  • , volume=189, issue=13, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Lessons of past cast shadows over Syria , passage=History and experience act as a filter that can distort as much as elucidate. It is largely forgotten now, overlooked in the one-line description of Tony Blair and George W Bush as the men who lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but there was a wider context to their conviction.}}
  • A set of events involving an entity.
  • * '>citation
  • A record or narrative description of past events.
  • A list of past and continuing medical conditions of an individual or family.
  • A record of previous user events, especially of visited web pages in a browser.
  • (informal) Something that no longer exists or is no longer relevant.
  • Shared experience or interaction.
  • There is too much history between them for them to split up now.
    He has had a lot of history with the police.

    Synonyms

    * (aggregate of past events) background, past * (record or narrative description of past events) account, chronicle, story, tale * medical history * log

    Derived terms

    * alternate history * antihistory * antihistoricist, antihistoricism * art history * call history * case history * credit history * family history * herstory * historian * historic * historical * historically * historiography * history repeats itself * life history * local history * medical history * microhistory * natural history * oral history * postal history * prehistory * prehistorian * prehistoric * prosecution history * pseudohistory

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To narrate or record.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Statistics

    *

    References