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Next vs However - What's the difference?

next | however |

As adverbs the difference between next and however

is that next is in a time, place or sequence closest or following while however is nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, that said, in spite of this.

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 preposition next

is on the side of; next to.

As a noun next

is the one that follows after this one.

As a conjunction however is

in whatever manner (that).

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!

    however

    English

    (POS mixed up)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (lb) Nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, that said, in spite of this.
  • :
  • *
  • *: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.
  • *
  • , chapter=2, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however , by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however , has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • (lb) To whatever degree.
  • :
  • (lb) In whatever way.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.}}
  • In what way?; how?
  • :
  • Usage notes

    * (nevertheless) Strunk and White’s (The Elements of Style)'' argues that the adverb ''however , in its sense of nevertheless, should be avoided at the beginning of a sentence.

    Synonyms

    * after all * but * nevertheless * nonetheless * notwithstanding * though * that said * still and all

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • In whatever manner (that).
  • Do it however you want.
  • To whatever extent.
  • However far he may get, there'll be many that get further.
    However much you prepare for the exam, there will still be a few questions on which you won't be sure of the answer.
  • (proscribed) Although, though, but, yet.
  • Usage notes

    *

    (although) The use of however'' as a conjunction meaning "but" is identical to its use as a clause-initial adverb meaning "nevertheless", except in punctuation (when written) and in prosody (when spoken). Hence, the following proscribed sentence:

    (proscribed) ''He told me not to do it, however''' I did it.''

    is equivalent to the following accepted one:

    (accepted) ''He told me not to do it; '''however , I did it.''

    In particular, when used as a conjunction in this sense, ''however always appears between the clauses it connects; it does not introduce a true subordinate clause that can be moved to the start of an independent clause, because a conjunctive adverb cannot do that.

    Statistics

    *

    References

    * * * * " however (degree)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * " however (despite)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * " however (way)" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * * Oxford English Dictionary , second edition (1989) * Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)