Between vs Before - What's the difference?
between | before |
In the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree. (See the Usage notes below.)
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:
*
*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between ; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title= Done together or reciprocally.
:
*{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1
, passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
Shared in confidence.
:
In transit from (one to the other, or connecting places).
:
Combined (by effort or ownership).
:
:
One of (representing a choice).
:
:
A kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics.
Earlier than (in time).
* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
*
, 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= In front of in space.
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
*
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
* (John Ayliffe) (1676-1732)
In store for, in the future of (someone).
* (Thomas Carlyle) (1795-1881)
In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
At a higher or greater position in a ranking.
* (Bible), (w) i. 15
* (Samuel Johnson) (1709-1784)
At an earlier time.
* , chapter=12
, title= In advance.
At the front end.
* 1896 , (Hilaire Belloc), The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts , :
As prepositions the difference between between and before
is that between is in the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree. (See the Usage notes below. while before is earlier than (in time).As a noun between
is a kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics.As an adverb before is
at an earlier time.As a conjunction before is
in advance of the time when.between
English
Alternative forms
* betweene (archaic) * betwene (archaic) * (abbreviation)Preposition
(English prepositions)Geothermal Energy, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. 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.}}
George Goodchild
Usage notes
* Some groups of non-native speakers confuse between'' and ''among''. It is sometimes said that ''between'' usually applies to two things, while ''among'' applies to more than two things. This is not correct; according to the Oxford English Dictionary (quoted at http://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/chesson/between_and_among.htm) "In all senses, ''between'' has been, from its earliest appearance, extended to more than two. In OE. and ME. it was so extended in sense 1, in which ''among'' is now considered better. It is still the only word available to express the relation of a thing to many surrounding things severally and individually, ''among expressing a relation to them collectively and vaguely: we should not say ‘the space lying among the three points,’ or ‘a treaty among three powers,’ or ‘the choice lies among the three candidates in the select list,’ or ‘to insert a needle among the closed petals of a flower".Synonyms
* atween (archaic) * atwixDerived terms
* (between)See also
* betwixt * amongNoun
(en noun)Statistics
*before
English
Preposition
(English prepositions)- Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.
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.}}
- 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.
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.}}
- If a suit be begun before an archdeacon
- The golden ageis before us.
- He that cometh after me is preferred before me.
- 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 ofAntonyms
* (earlier than in time) after, later than * (in front of in space) behind * (in front of according to an ordering system) afterAdverb
(-)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.}}
- When people call this beast to mind,
They marvel more and more
At such a (little) tail behind,
So LARGE a trunk before .