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Due vs Following - What's the difference?

due | following |

As adjectives the difference between due and following

is that due is owed or owing while following is coming next, either in sequence or in time.

As nouns the difference between due and following

is that due is deserved acknowledgment while following is a group of followers, attendants or admirers; an entourage.

As an adverb due

is (used with compass directions) directly; exactly.

As a preposition following is

after, subsequent to.

due

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Owed or owing.
  • Appropriate.
  • * Gray
  • With dirges due , in sad array, / Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne.
  • Scheduled; expected.
  • Having reached the expected, scheduled, or natural time.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.}}
  • Owing; ascribable, as to a cause.
  • * J. D. Forbes
  • This effect is due to the attraction of the sun.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother

    Synonyms

    * (owed or owing) needed, owing, to be made, required * (appropriate) * expected, forecast * (having reached the scheduled or natural time) expected

    Derived terms

    * driving without due care and attention * due date * due to * in due time * taxes due * with all due respect

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (used with compass directions) Directly; exactly.
  • The river runs due north for about a mile.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Deserved acknowledgment.
  • Give him his due — he is a good actor.
  • * {{quote-news, author=Daniel Taylor, title=David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked, work=(The Guardian) (London), date=31 January 2015 citation
  • , passage=Chelsea, to give them their due , did start to cut out the defensive lapses as the game went on but they needed to because their opponents were throwing everything at them in those stages and, if anything, seemed encouraged by the message that Mourinho’s Rémy-Cahill switch sent out.}}
  • (in plural dues ) A membership fee.
  • That which is owed; debt; that which belongs or may be claimed as a right; whatever custom, law, or morality requires to be done, duty.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He will give the devil his due .
  • * Tennyson
  • Yearly little dues of wheat, and wine, and oil.
  • Right; just title or claim.
  • * Milton
  • The key of this infernal pit by due I keep.

    Derived terms

    * give someone his due * give the devil his due

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    following

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Coming next, either in sequence or in time.
  • * 1835 , Sir , Sir (James Clark Ross), Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1 , pp.284-5
  • Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
  • About to be specified.
  • (of a wind) Blowing in the direction of travel.
  • Usage notes

    (Senses 1, 2) When it modifies a noun phrase, it is generally preceded by the definite article the'', and the combination functions as a determiner rather than a simple adjective. You can put it before a cardinal like ''the following two remarks'' instead of ''the two following remarks .

    Antonyms

    * abovementioned * aforementioned * aforesaid

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • After, subsequent to.
  • Following the meeting, we all had a chat.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A group of followers, attendants or admirers; an entourage.
  • He had a loyal following .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 29 , author=Jon Smith , title=Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=And White Hart Lane was stunned when Rovers scored just five minutes after the restart in front of their away following .}}
  • Something to be mentioned immediately later. Used with the definite article the .
  • The following is a recommendation letter from the president.
  • Vocation; business; profession.
  • Statistics

    *