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Nearby vs Towards - What's the difference?

nearby | towards |

As adjectives the difference between nearby and towards

is that nearby is adjacent, near, very close while towards is near; at hand; in state of preparation; toward.

As adverbs the difference between nearby and towards

is that nearby is next to, close to while towards is in the direction of something (indicated by context).

As a preposition towards is

variant of toward.

nearby

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • adjacent, near, very close
    • He stopped at a nearby store for some groceries.

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • next to, close to
    • I'm glad my friends live nearby where I can visit them.

    Usage notes

    Some British writers make the distinction between the adverbial near by'', which is written as two words; and the adjectival ''nearby , which is written as one. In American English, the one-word spelling is standard for both forms.

    Anagrams

    *

    towards

    English

    Preposition

    (en-prep) (mainly in British English )
  • Variant of toward.
  • * 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.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Everton 0-2 Liverpool , passage=But with Goodison Park openly directing its full hostility towards Atkinson, Liverpool went ahead when Carroll turned in his first Premier League goal of the season after 70 minutes.}}

    Synonyms

    * toward

    Usage notes

    * Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words (term) and (towards), the difference is merely dialectal. (term) is the most common form, while (toward) tends to appear only in American English.

    See also

    * See

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (obsolete) In the direction of something (indicated by context).
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
    • Thus as he spake, lo far away they spyde / A varlet running towards hastily [...].

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Near; at hand; in state of preparation; toward.
  • * Shakespeare
    • We have a trifling foolish banquet / Towards .

    Statistics

    * English prepositions