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.

Unto vs Toward - What's the difference?

unto | toward |

In obsolete terms the difference between unto and toward

is that unto is (poetic) Up to the time or degree that; until; till while toward is future; to come.

As a conjunction unto

is (poetic) Up to the time or degree that; until; till.

As an adjective toward is

future; to come.

unto

English

Conjunction

(English Conjunctions)
  • (obsolete) (poetic) Up to the time or degree that; until; till.

    • Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (archaic, or, poetic) Up to, indicating a motion towards a thing and then stopping at it.
    • Sir Gawain rode unto the nearby castle.
  • (archaic, or, poetic) To, indicating an indirect object
    • And the Lord said unto Moses
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • Again, whereas men affirm they perceive an addition of ponderosity in dead bodies, comparing them usually unto blocks and stones, whensoever they lift or carry them; this accessional preponderancy is rather in appearance than reality.

    Statistics

    *

    References

    * ----

    toward

    English

    Preposition

    (en-prep) (mainly in American English)
  • In the direction of.
  • :
  • *(Bible), (w) xxiv. 1
  • *:He set his face toward the wilderness.
  • *
  • *: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.
  • In relation to (someone or something).
  • :
  • *(Bible), (w)
  • *:His eye shall be evil toward his brother.
  • For the purpose of attaining (an aim).
  • :
  • Located close to; near (a time or place).
  • :
  • *(Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • *:I am toward nine years older since I left you.

    • Synonyms

    * towards

    Usage notes

    * Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words (term) and (towards), the difference is merely dialectal. (term) is more common in American English and (towards) is the predominant form in British English.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Future; to come.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
    • ere that wished day his beame disclosd, / He either enuying my toward good, / Or of himselfe to treason ill disposd / One day vnto me came in friendly mood [...].
  • (dated) Approaching, coming near; impending; present, at hand.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward ?
  • * 1843 , '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
    • On the morrow […] orders the Cellerarius to send off his carpenters to demolish the said structure brevi manu , and lay up the wood in safe keeping. Old Dean Herbert, hearing what was toward , comes tottering along hither, to plead humbly for himself and his mill.
  • Yielding, pliant; docile; ready or apt to learn; not froward.
  • (obsolete, or, archaic) Promising, likely; froward.
    • Why, that is spoken like a toward prince. ? Shakespeare.

    Statistics

    * American English