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Certain vs Current - What's the difference?

certain | current |

In obsolete terms the difference between certain and current

is that certain is determined; resolved while current is running or moving rapidly.

As adjectives the difference between certain and current

is that certain is sure, positive, not doubting while current is existing or occurring at the moment.

As a determiner certain

is having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.

As a noun current is

the part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction.

certain

English

Adjective

(wikipedia certain) (en adjective)
  • Sure, positive, not doubting.
  • I was certain of my decision.
  • (obsolete) Determined; resolved.
  • * Milton
  • However, I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom.
  • Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
  • * Bible, Dan. ii. 45
  • The dream is certain , and the interpretation thereof sure.
  • Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
  • Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.
  • * Dryden
  • Virtue that directs our ways / Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
  • Unfailing; infallible.
  • * Mead
  • I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
  • Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
  • * Bible, Ex. xvi. 4
  • The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.
  • Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons.
  • * Bible, Luke v. 12
  • It came to pass when he was in a certain city.
  • * Macaulay
  • About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace and decorum.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * (not doubting) uncertain * (sure to happen) impossible, incidental

    Derived terms

    * certainly

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • Having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.
  • * Bible, Acts xxiii. 12
  • Certain of the Jews banded together.
  • * , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
  • , chapter=3 citation , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”}}

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    current

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction.
  • (electricity) The time rate of flow of electric charge.
  • :* Symbol': '''''I (inclined upper case letter "I")
  • :* Units:
  • :: SI: ampere (A)
  • :: CGS: esu/second (esu/s)
  • A tendency or a course of events.
  • Synonyms

    * (part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction ): flow, stream * (time rate of flow of electric charge ): electric current * (tendency or course of events ): flow, stream, tendency

    Derived terms

    * undercurrent

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Existing or occurring at the moment.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= 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.}}
  • Generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • (obsolete) Running or moving rapidly.
  • * Gower
  • Like the current fire, that renneth / Upon a cord.
  • * Tennyson
  • To chase a creature that was current then / In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.

    Synonyms

    * (existing or occurring at the moment ): present * (generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment ): fashionable, prevailing, prevalent, rife, up-to-date

    Antonyms

    * (existing or occurring at the moment ): future, past * (generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment ): out-of-date, unfashionable