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Now vs Eternity - What's the difference?

now | eternity |

As nouns the difference between now and eternity

is that now is new moon while eternity is (uncountable) existence without end, infinite time.

now

English

(wikipedia now)

Adjective

(-)
  • Present; current.
  • * 17th C , , Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; in an Essay of the Vanity of Dogmatizing and Confident Opinion , 1885, page 207,
  • Defects seem as necessary to our now happiness as their Opposites.
  • * 1855 , Conrad Swackhamer, The United States democratic review , Volume 5?,
  • The history of the infant colonies teaches us that the country comprised within the limits of the now United States of America was originally patented in the reign of James I., of England, into two portions:'' that in less than eighty years from that period, the same was again divided into ''twelve'' distinct provinces; a ''thirteenth being after added in the creation of the State of Georgia.
  • * 1908 , The English reports ,
  • Where in assumpsit for money lent, the defendant pleaded that in an action in which the now' defendant was plaintiff, and the ' now plaintiff was defendant,.
  • * 2010 March 17, The Telegraph'', news website, '' Radio 4 apologises for day old shipping forecast ,
  • Radio 4's continuity announcer said at the end of the show: "As many of you will have noticed, that edition of The Now Show wasn't very now . It was actually last week's programme. Our apologies for that."
  • (archaic, legal) At the time the will is written. Used in order to prevent any inheritance from being transferred to a person of a future marriage. Does not indicate the existence of a previous marriage.
  • Now wife.
  • (informal) Fashionable; popular; up to date; current.
  • I think this band's sound is very now .

    See also

    * happening

    Adverb

    (-)
  • At the present time.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.
  • (sentence)
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3 , passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
  • Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.}}
  • Differently from the situation before a stated event or change of circumstance.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • At the time reached within a narration.
  • (obsolete) Very recently; not long ago.
  • * Waller
  • They that but now , for honour and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.

    Derived terms

    * nowadays * now and then * right now *

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • since something is true : because of the fact that something happened
  • : Now you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
  • since, because, in light of the fact.
  • ''We can play football now that the rain has stopped.
  • — usually + that
  • : Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
  • : Now that''' we're all here, let's start the meeting. = Let's start the meeting '''now that everyone's here.
  • Interjection

    (en-interj)!
  • Indicates a signal to begin.
  • ''Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) The present time.
  • Now is the right time.
    There is no better time than now .
  • # The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.
  • She is living in the now .
  • # A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.
  • #* (Emily Dickinson)
  • Forever is composed of nows .
  • #* {{quote-book, ##*, 1982, Albert Hofstadter, The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, by=Martin Heidegger, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=VmatHCLJ4Q4C&pg=PA249, page=249
  • , passage=Time is not thrust together and summed up out of nows , but the reverse: with reference to the now we can articulate the stretching out of time always only in specific ways.}}

    Synonyms

    * (not paying attention to the future or past) here and now

    Statistics

    *

    eternity

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic) * (obsolete)

    Noun

  • (uncountable) Existence without end, infinite time.
  • * 1829', , ''Sermon LVIII: On the '''Eternity of God'', in ''Sermons on Several Occasions , Volume 2, 10th edition, page 1,
  • Eternity' has generally been considered as divisible into two parts; which have been termed, '''eternity''' ''a parte ante'', and '''eternity''' ''a parte post'': that is, in plain English, that '''eternity''' which is past, and that ' eternity which is to come.
  • * 1886 , , Systematic Theology: a Compendium and Commonplace-book Designed for the Use of Theological Students , page 190,
  • This theory regards creation as an act of God in eternity past.
  • * 2000 , , Human Nature in It's Fourfold State , page 247,
  • Those who like not the company of the saints on earth will get none of it in eternity'; but, as godless company is their delight now, they will afterwards get enough of it, when they have ' eternity to pass in the roaring and blaspheming society of devils and reprobates in hell.
  • (uncountable, philosophy) Existence outside of time.
  • * 1879 , (editor) ''Journal of Discourses , Volume 21,
  • We sometimes speak of eternity' in contradistinction to time; and often say, "through time and into '''eternity''';" and again "from '''eternity''' to '''eternity'''," which is simply another form of expressing the same idea, and "pass through time into '''eternity'''." in other words, time is a short period allotted to man in his probationary state—and we use the word time in contradistinction to the word ' eternity , merely for the accommodation of man in his finite sphere, that we may comprehend and learn to measure periods.
  • (countable) A period of time which extends infinitely far into the future.
  • (metaphysical) The remainder of time that elapses after death.
  • (informal, hyperbole) A comparatively long time.
  • It's been an eternity since we last saw each other.

    Usage notes

    * In the sense "a comparatively long time", eternity is always used with the indefinite article (an eternity ). * In philosophy, the common use of eternity' to refer to an infinite time is considered incorrect, ' eternity referring to existence outside of time; existence within time but of an infinite temporal duration is called everlastingness or sempiternity

    Synonyms

    * (existence outside of time) extratemporal * (infinite time) all time * (time extending infinitely far into the future) evermore, forever * (remainder of time that elapses after death) afterlife * (comparatively long time) an age, ages, centuries, donkey's years, hours, a lifetime, years, yonks

    Antonyms

    * (existence outside of time) sempiternity

    Derived terms

    * eternity past * eternity future

    Anagrams

    * entirety