Around vs Behind - What's the difference?
around | behind |
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.
At the back of.
*
*:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= To the back of.
After, time- or motion-wise.
*1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)
*:About the center, and a good way behind the rest, Silver and I followed - I tethered by my rope.
Responsible for.
In support of.
:
Left a distance by, in progress or improvement; inferior to.
:
*Bible, xi.5:
*:I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
At the back part; in the rear.
* Milton
Toward the back part or rear; backward.
Overdue, in arrears.
Slow; of a watch or clock.
existing afterwards
* Shakespeare
Backward in time or order of succession; past.
* Bible, Phil. ii. 13
Behind the scenes in a theatre; backstage.
* 1890 , (Oscar Wilde), The Picture of Dorian Gray , Vintage 2007, p. 68:
(archaic) Not yet brought forward, produced, or exhibited to view; out of sight; remaining.
* John Locke
the rear, back-end
butt, the buttocks, bottom
(Australian rules football) A one-point score.
* 1880 . "The Opening Ball" in Comic Australian Verse'', ed. G. Lehmann, 1975. Quoted in G. A. Wilkes, ''A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms , second edition, 1985, (Sydney University Press), ISBN 0-424-00113-6.
The catcher.
In the Eton College field game, any of a group of players consisting of two "shorts" (who try to kick the ball over the bully) and a "long" (who defends the goal).
As prepositions the difference between around and behind
is that around is defining a circle or closed curve containing a thing while behind is at the back of.As adverbs the difference between around and behind
is that around is generally while behind is at the back part; in the rear.As an adjective around
is alive; existing.As a noun behind is
the rear, back-end.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
* aboutbehind
English
Preposition
(English prepositions)Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
Synonyms
* in back of * to the rear ofAdverb
(en adverb)- I shall not lag behind .
- to look behind
- My employer is two paychecks behind on paying my salary.
- I'm two weeks behind in my schedule.
- ''My watch is four minutes behind .
- He left behind a legacy of death and sorrow.
- He stayed behind after the war.
- Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, / And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, / Leave not a rack behind .
- forgetting those things which are behind
- ‘After the performance was over I went behind , and spoke to her.’
- We cannot be sure that there is no evidence behind .
Usage notes
For usage in phrasal verbs, see Category: English phrasal verbs with particle "behind": .Noun
(en noun)- A roar from ten thousand throats go up,
For we've kicked another behind.