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Next vs Below - What's the difference?

next | below |

As adverbs the difference between next and below

is that next is in a time, place or sequence closest or following while below is in a lower place.

As prepositions the difference between next and below

is that next is on the side of; next to while below is lower in spatial position than.

As an adjective next

is following in a sequence.

As a determiner next

is the one immediately following the current or most recent one.

As a noun next

is the one that follows after this one.

next

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (dialectal) * (l) (Scotland)

Adjective

(-)
  • Following in a sequence.
  • Being closer to the present location than all other items.
  • * , chapter=8
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.}}
  • Nearest following (of date, time, space or order).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • (figuratively) Following in a hypothetical sequence of some kind.
  • *

    • Antonyms

    * previous * (closest to seven days ahead) last, this

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • The one immediately following the current or most recent one
    • Next week would be a good time to meet.
    I'll know better next time.
  • Closest to seven days (one week) in the future.
    • The party is next Tuesday; that is, not this Tuesday, but nine days from now.

    Adverb

    (-)
  • In a time, place or sequence closest or following.
    • They live in the next closest house.
    It's the next best thing to ice cream.
    Next , we stripped off the old paint.
  • On the first subsequent occasion,
    • Financial panic, earthquakes, oil spills, riots. What comes next ?
    When we next meet, you'll be married.

    Antonyms

    * previously

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • On the side of; next to.
  • * 1900 , The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices , translated by Walter Leaf (London, Macmillan), notes on line 558 of book 2:
    • The fact that the line cannot be original is patent from the fact that Aias in the rest of the Iliad is not encamped next the Athenians .

    Noun

    (-)
  • The one that follows after this one.
    • ''Next , please, don't hold up the queue!

    Statistics

    * 200 English basic words English sequence adverbs 1000 English basic words ----

    below

    English

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Lower in spatial position than.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • Lower in value, price, rank or concentration than.
  • * Addison
    • one degree below kings
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Philip J. Bushnell, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance , passage=Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.}}
  • Downstream of.
  • South of.
  • Unsuitable to the rank or dignity of; beneath.
  • * (John Milton)
    • They beheld, with a just loathing and disdain, how below all history the persons and their actions were.
  • * Hallam
    • who thinks no fact below his regard
  • (stage directions) Downstage of.
  • * 1952 , (Frederick Knott), , 1954 (Dramatists Play Service) acting edition, act 1, scene 1:
    • Below the sofa is a low, round coffee table.

    Synonyms

    * (lower in spatial position than) beneath, under, underneath * (lower in value than) under * (downstream of) downstream * (unsuitable to the rank or dignity of) beneath

    Antonyms

    * (lower in spatial position than) above, over * (lower in value than) over * (downstream of) upstream

    Derived terms

    * below the belt

    Adverb

    (-)
  • In a lower place.
  • *
  • *:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ΒΆ.
  • On a lower storey.
  • Further down.
  • (lb) On a lower deck.
  • :
  • (lb) Below zero.

    • Synonyms

    * (in a lower place) beneath, under, underneath * (on a lower storey) downstairs * (farther down) downwards

    Antonyms

    * (in a lower place) aloft, overhead, up * (on a lower storey) upstairs * (farther down) upwards

    Derived terms

    (below) * below average * below decks/belowdecks * belowground * below par * below the belt * below the fold

    References

    * Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "The vertical axis", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * 200 English basic words English locatives 1000 English basic words