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Now vs Before - What's the difference?

now | before |

In informal terms the difference between now and before

is that now is fashionable; popular; up to date; current while before is rather or sooner than.

As adverbs the difference between now and before

is that now is at the present time while before is at an earlier time.

As conjunctions the difference between now and before

is that now is since something is true : because of the fact that something happened while before is in advance of the time when.

As an adjective now

is present; current.

As an interjection now

is indicates a signal to begin.

As a noun now

is the present time.

As an acronym NOW

is national Organization for Women.

As a preposition before is

earlier than (in time).

now

English

(wikipedia now)

Adjective

(-)
  • Present; current.
  • * 17th C , , Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; in an Essay of the Vanity of Dogmatizing and Confident Opinion , 1885, page 207,
  • Defects seem as necessary to our now happiness as their Opposites.
  • * 1855 , Conrad Swackhamer, The United States democratic review , Volume 5?,
  • The history of the infant colonies teaches us that the country comprised within the limits of the now United States of America was originally patented in the reign of James I., of England, into two portions:'' that in less than eighty years from that period, the same was again divided into ''twelve'' distinct provinces; a ''thirteenth being after added in the creation of the State of Georgia.
  • * 1908 , The English reports ,
  • Where in assumpsit for money lent, the defendant pleaded that in an action in which the now' defendant was plaintiff, and the ' now plaintiff was defendant,.
  • * 2010 March 17, The Telegraph'', news website, '' Radio 4 apologises for day old shipping forecast ,
  • Radio 4's continuity announcer said at the end of the show: "As many of you will have noticed, that edition of The Now Show wasn't very now . It was actually last week's programme. Our apologies for that."
  • (archaic, legal) At the time the will is written. Used in order to prevent any inheritance from being transferred to a person of a future marriage. Does not indicate the existence of a previous marriage.
  • Now wife.
  • (informal) Fashionable; popular; up to date; current.
  • I think this band's sound is very now .

    See also

    * happening

    Adverb

    (-)
  • At the present time.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.
  • (sentence)
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3 , passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
  • Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.}}
  • Differently from the situation before a stated event or change of circumstance.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • At the time reached within a narration.
  • (obsolete) Very recently; not long ago.
  • * Waller
  • They that but now , for honour and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.

    Derived terms

    * nowadays * now and then * right now *

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • since something is true : because of the fact that something happened
  • : Now you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
  • since, because, in light of the fact.
  • ''We can play football now that the rain has stopped.
  • — usually + that
  • : Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
  • : Now that''' we're all here, let's start the meeting. = Let's start the meeting '''now that everyone's here.
  • Interjection

    (en-interj)!
  • Indicates a signal to begin.
  • ''Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) The present time.
  • Now is the right time.
    There is no better time than now .
  • # The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.
  • She is living in the now .
  • # A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.
  • #* (Emily Dickinson)
  • Forever is composed of nows .
  • #* {{quote-book, ##*, 1982, Albert Hofstadter, The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, by=Martin Heidegger, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=VmatHCLJ4Q4C&pg=PA249, page=249
  • , passage=Time is not thrust together and summed up out of nows , but the reverse: with reference to the now we can articulate the stretching out of time always only in specific ways.}}

    Synonyms

    * (not paying attention to the future or past) here and now

    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