Toward vs Upon - What's the difference?
toward | upon |
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).
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*(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.
(obsolete) Future; to come.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
(dated) Approaching, coming near; impending; present, at hand.
* Shakespeare
* 1843 , '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
Yielding, pliant; docile; ready or apt to learn; not froward.
(obsolete, or, archaic) Promising, likely; froward.
Being above and in contact with another.
:
*{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Hughes Mearns)
, title=
, passage=Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …}}
Being directly supported by another.
:
:
Being followed by another so as to form a series.
:
At a prescribed point in time.
:
.
*
, 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.}}
*
*:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.
Being the target of an action.
Incidental to a specified point in time or order of action; usually combined with here-, there- or where-.
As prepositions the difference between toward and upon
is that toward is in the direction of while upon is being above and in contact with another.As an adjective toward
is future; to come.As an adverb upon is
being the target of an action.toward
English
Preposition
(en-prep) (mainly in American English)Synonyms
* towardsUsage 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
(-)- 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 [...].
- Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward ?
- 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.
- Why, that is spoken like a toward prince. ? Shakespeare.
Statistics
* American Englishupon
English
Alternative forms
* vpon (obsolete)Preposition
(English prepositions)Usage notes
A somewhat elevated word; the simpler, more general term on is generally interchangeable, and more common in casual American speech. In poetic or legal contexts, upon is common.Synonyms
* (all senses) on * (time) atAdverb
(-)- He was set upon by the agitated dogs
- The clock struck noon, whereupon the students proceeded to lunch.