now
Noun · AdverbOpen English WordNet
Adverb (7)
- in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events“President Kennedy now calls in the National Guard”“Washington now decides to cross the Delaware”“the ship is now listing to port”
- in these times“it is solely by their language that the upper classes nowadays are distinguished — Nancy Mitford”“we now rarely see horse-drawn vehicles on city streets”“today almost every home has television”Synonyms: nowadaystoday
- used to preface a command or reproof or request“now hear this!”“now pay attention”
- at the present moment“goods now on sale”“the now-aging dictator”“they are now abroad”“he is busy at present writing a new novel”“it could happen any time now”Synonyms: at present
- without delay or hesitation; with no time intervening“he answered immediately”“found an answer straightaway”“an official accused of dishonesty should be suspended forthwith”“Come here now!”Synonyms: immediatelyinstantlystraightawaystraight offdirectlyright awayat onceforthwithlike a shot
- (prefatory or transitional) indicates a change of subject or activity“Now the next problem is …”
- in the immediate past“told me just now”
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Adverb at the present time
- Spanish
- ahora
- French
- maintenant
- German
- jetzt
- Italian
- adesso
- Portuguese
- agora
- Turkish
- şimdi
- Russian
- сейча́с sejčás
- Arabic
- الْآنَ al-ʔāna
- Chinese
- 现在 xiànzài
- Japanese
- 今 ima
36 more languages
- Dutch
- nu
- Polish
- teraz
- Swedish
- nu
- Greek
- τώρα tóra
- Korean
- 지금 jigeum
- Indonesian
- sekarang
- Vietnamese
- bây giờ
- Hungarian
- most
- Portuguese (PT)
- agora
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 現在 xiànzài
- Albanian
- tani
- Breton
- bremañ
- Catalan
- ara
- Corsican
- avà
- Czech
- teď
- Danish
- nu
- Esperanto
- nun
- Estonian
- nüüd
- Finnish
- nyt
- Georgian
- ახლა axla
- Hebrew
- עַכְשָׁו akhsháv
- Icelandic
- nú
- Kurdish
- niha
- Latvian
- tagad
- Lithuanian
- dabar
- Malagasy
- izao
- Norwegian
- nå
- Romanian
- acum
- Scottish Gaelic
- a-nis
- Serbo-Croatian
- sad
- Slovak
- teraz
- Slovenian
- zdaj
- Swahili
- sasa
- Walloon
- asteure
- Welsh
- nawr
- Yiddish
- איצט itst
Conjunction since, because
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. nou, nu, AS. nū, nu; akin to D., OS., & OHG. nu, G. nu, nun, Icel., nū, Dan., Sw., & Goth. nu, L. nunc, Gr. νύ, νῦν, Skr. nu, nū. √193. Cf. New.
1. At the present time; at this moment; at the time of speaking; instantly; as, I will write now.
I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.— John Arbuthnot
2. Very lately; not long ago.
They that but now, for honor and for plate, Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.— Edmund Waller
3. At a time contemporaneous with something spoken of or contemplated; at a particular time referred to.
The ship was now in the midst of the sea.— Matt. xiv. 24.
4. In present circumstances; things being as they are; — hence, used as a connective particle, to introduce an inference or an explanation.
How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite and a man of honor?— Sir Roger L'Estrange
Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is?— William Shakespeare
Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber.— John xviii. 40.
The other great and undoing mischief which befalls men is, by their being misrepresented. Now, by calling evil good, a man is misrepresented to others in the way of slander.— Robert South
Now and again, now and then; occasionally. — Now and now, again and again; repeatedly. obsolete Geoffrey Chaucer — Now and then, at one time and another; indefinitely; occasionally; not often; at intervals. “A mead here, there a heath, and now and then a wood.” Michael Drayton — Now now, at this very instant; precisely now. obsolete “Why, even now now, at holding up of this finger, and before the turning down of this.” J. Webster (1607). — Now... now, alternately; at one time... at another time. “Now high, now low, now master up, now miss.” Alexander Pope
Existing at the present time; present. rare “Our now happiness.” Joseph Glanvill
The present time or moment; the present.
Nothing is there to come, and nothing past; But an eternal now does ever last.— Abraham Cowley
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54