What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Through vs Top - What's the difference?

through | top |

As adjectives the difference between through and top

is that through is passing from one side of an object to the other while top is best; of the highest quality or rank.

As adverbs the difference between through and top

is that through is from one side to the other by way of the interior while top is rated first.

As nouns the difference between through and top

is that through is a large slab of stone laid on a tomb while top is the highest part or component of an object.

As a preposition through

is from one side of an opening to the other.

As a verb top is

to cover on the top or with a top.

through

English

Alternative forms

* thorow (obsolete) * thru

Etymology 1

From (etyl) *. See also thorough.

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • From one side of an opening to the other.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • Entering, then later leaving.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging.He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
  • *
  • *:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= No hiding place , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.}}
  • Surrounded by (while moving).
  • :
  • *, chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • By means of.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 28, author=Tom Rostance, title=Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos
  • , work=BBC Sport citation , passage=But the home side were ahead in the eighth minute through 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] 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. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • (lb) To (or up to) and including, with all intermediate values.
  • :
  • Derived terms
    (terms derived using the preposition "through") * clear through * feedthrough * get through * go through * look through * right through * through and through * through with * throughput * throughway

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Passing from one side of an object to the other.
  • :
  • Finished; complete.
  • :
  • Valueless; without a future.
  • :
  • No longer interested.
  • :
  • *
  • *:“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
  • *1977 , Iggy Pop,
  • *:I'm worth a million in prizes / Yeah, I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk / No more beating my brains / No more beating my brains / With the liquor and drugs / With the liquor and drugs
  • Proceeding from origin to destination without delay due to change of equipment.
  • :
  • Adverb

    (-)
  • From one side to the other by way of the interior.
  • The arrow went straight through .
  • From one end to the other.
  • Others slept; he worked straight through .
    She read the letter through .
  • To the end.
  • He said he would see it through .
  • Completely.
  • Leave the yarn in the dye overnight so the color soaks through .
  • Out into the open.
  • The American army broke through at St. Lo.

    References

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

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A large slab of stone laid on a tomb.
  • top

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia top) (en noun)
  • (rfc-sense)The highest part or component of an object.
  • :
  • *
  • *:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶.
  • #The part viewed, or intended to be viewed, nearest the edge of the visual field normally occupied by the uppermost visible objects.
  • #:
  • #A lid, cap or cover of a container.
  • #:
  • #A garment worn to cover the torso.
  • #:
  • #(lb) A framework at the top of a ship's mast to which rigging is attached.
  • #(lb) The first half of an inning, during which the home team fields and the visiting team bats.
  • #(lb) The crown of the head, or the hair upon it; the head.
  • #*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • #*:from top to toe
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:All the stored vengeance of Heaven fall / On her ungrateful top !
  • A child’s spinning toy; a spinning top.
  • :
  • (lb) Someone who is eminent.
  • #(lb) The chief person; the most prominent one.
  • #*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • #*:to be the top of zealots
  • #The highest rank; the most honourable position; the utmost attainable place.
  • #:
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:And wears upon his baby brow the round / And top of sovereignty.
  • #*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 29, author=Tom Rostance, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Stoke 2-1 Besiktas , passage=After drawing their first game in Kiev the Potters are now top of Europa League Group E ahead of back-to-back games with Maccabi Tel-Aviv.}}
  • (lb) A dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  • A man penetrating or with a preference for penetrating during homosexual intercourse.
  • :
  • (lb) A top quark.
  • The utmost degree; the acme; the summit.
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:The top of my ambition is to contribute to that work.
  • (lb) A plug, or conical block of wood, with longitudinal grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
  • (lb) Highest pitch or loudest.
  • :
  • *, chapter=7
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.}}
  • (lb) A bundle or ball of slivers of combed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out.
  • (lb) Eve; verge; point.
  • *(Richard Knolles) (1545-1610)
  • *:He was upon the top of his marriage with Magdaleine.
  • The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface.
  • :(Knight)
  • Topboots.
  • :(Charles Dickens)
  • Synonyms

    * head (of a page) * (lid) cap, cover, lid * (LGBT) pitcher, active, seme (Japanese fiction)

    Antonyms

    * (part of an object furthest away in the opposite direction from that in which an unsupported object would fall) base, bottom, underside * foot (of a page) * (garment) bottoms * (BDSM) bottom * (gay sexual slang) bottom, passive, pathic

    Derived terms

    * big top * curly top * desktop * hilltop * housetop * laptop * mountaintop * on top * on top of * on top of the world * palmtop * rooftop * tabletop * tiptop * top and tail * top-down * top-hole * topless * top of mind * top of the hour * top of the morning * topping * treetop

    Verb

    (topp)
  • To cover on the top or with a top.
  • I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.
  • To cut or remove the top (as of a tree)
  • I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair.
    Top and tail the carrots.
  • To excel, to surpass, to beat.
  • Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.
  • * Shakespeare, King Lear
  • Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, / And my invention thrive, Edmund the base / Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper
  • To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of).
  • Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.
  • * 2013 , Phil McNulty, "[http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25442148]", BBC Sport , 26 December 2013:
  • Liverpool topped the table on Christmas Day and, after Arsenal's win at West Ham earlier on Boxing Day, would have returned to the top had they been the first team to beat City at home this season.
  • (British, slang) To commit suicide, (rare) to murder.
  • Depression causes many people to top themselves.
  • (BDSM) To be the dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  • I used to be a slave, but I ended up topping .
    Giving advice to the dominant partner on how to run the BDSM session is called "topping from the bottom".
  • (slang, gay sexuality) To be the partner who penetrates in anal sex.
  • (archaic) To rise aloft; to be eminent; to tower.
  • lofty ridges and topping mountains
    (Derham)
  • (archaic) To predominate.
  • topping passions
  • * John Locke
  • influenced by topping uneasiness
  • (archaic) To excel; to rise above others.
  • (Dryden)

    Synonyms

    * (excel) beat, better, best, do better than, exceed, excel, outdo, surpass, trump, worst * (kill) ** (standard) kill, murder, slaughter, slay ** do in, do away with, take out, wipe out

    Derived terms

    * (kill) top oneself * untopped

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (informal) Best; of the highest quality or rank.
  • (informal) Very good, of high quality.
  • Adverb

    (-)
  • Rated first.
  • She came top in her French exam.

    Synonyms

    * first

    See also

    * topple

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----