Behind vs Opposite - What's the difference?
behind | opposite |
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).
Located directly across from something else, or from each other.
Facing in the other direction.
Of either of two complementary or mutually exclusive things.
Extremely different; inconsistent; contrary; repugnant; antagonistic.
* Dryden
* John Locke
Something opposite or contrary to another.
An opponent.
An antonym.
(mathematics) An additive inverse.
In an opposite position.
Facing, or across from.
:
*
*:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
In a complementary role to.
:
As prepositions the difference between behind and opposite
is that behind is at the back of while opposite is facing, or across from.As adverbs the difference between behind and opposite
is that behind is at the back part; in the rear while opposite is in an opposite position.As nouns the difference between behind and opposite
is that behind is the rear, back-end while opposite is something opposite or contrary to another.As an adjective opposite is
located directly across from something else, or from each other.behind
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.
Derived terms
* behind bars * behind closed doors * behind in the count * behind somebody's back * behind the arc * behind the bit * behind the counter * behind the eight-ball * behind the scenes * behind the wheel * behindhand * caught behind * come from behind * drop behind * fall behind * get behind * hiney * leave behind * rushed behind * stay behind * wet behind the earsStatistics
*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 8opposite
English
Alternative forms
* (l) (archaic)Adjective
(-)- She saw him walking on the opposite side of the road.
- They were moving in opposite directions.
- He has a lot of success with the opposite sex.
- Novels, by which the reader is misled into another sort of pieasure opposite to that which is designed in an epic poem.
- Particles of speech have divers, and sometimes almost opposite , significations.
Derived terms
* opposite sexNoun
(en noun)- "Up" is the opposite of "down".
Derived terms
* opposites attractAdverb
(-)- I was on my seat and she stood opposite .