now

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Present

   Present; current.

   • […] to my now wife Mabell, my child Elisabeth, & my child now begotten, &c., and they to be joint Exõrs, & if all die, then the same jointly to my brother William Every & my sisters Sarah Skibbowe & Joan Brice.
   • Defects seem as necessary to our now happiness as their Opposites.
2. 2

   Fashionable

   Fashionable; popular; up to date; current.

   • I think this band's sound is very now.
   • Bernard: What does it do? Fran: It's very in. Bernard: You don't know what it is, do you? Fran: It's very now.
3. 3

   At the present time.

   • Now I am six.
   • Stop that now, Jimmy!
   • I could have been Secretary of State now if I hadn’t left politics five years ago.
4. ›+ 16 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Used to introduce a point, a qualification of what has previously been said, a…

      Used to introduce a point, a qualification of what has previously been said, a remonstration or a rebuke.

      • Now, we all want what is best for our children.
      • Now, Jimmy, stop that.
   2. 5

      Differently from the immediate past

      Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.

      • Now I am ready.
      • We all now want the latest toys for our children.
      • We all want what is now best for our children.
   3. 6

      At the time reached within a narration.

      • Now he remembered why he had come.
      • He now asked her whether she had made pudding.
      • The pudding was now ready to be served.
   4. 7

      Used to indicate a context of urgency.

      • Now listen, we must do something about this.
   5. 8

      At the present point of a recurring cycle or event.

      • I always used to do my shopping now, to avoid the rush.
   6. 9

      Very recently

      Very recently; not long ago; up to the present.

      • They that but now, for honour and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.
   7. 10

      Used to address a switching side, or sharp change in attitude from before.

      • Now, you want to protect me. An hour ago, you were mercilessly bullying me!
   8. 11

      Sometimes

      Sometimes; occasionally; used to list a series of often assumed states.

      • His face fit his roles: now smiling, now earnest, now glowering, now raging.
   9. 12

      Since, because, in light of the fact.

      • Now all the children have grown up and left, the house is very quiet.
      • Now that my sister has gotten rid of their cat, we can go to her house this coming Thanksgiving.
      • We can play football now that the rain has stopped.
   10. 13

       Indicates a signal to begin.

       • Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!
   11. 14

       The present time.

       • Now is the right time.
       • There is no better time than now.
   12. 15

       The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.

       • She is living in the now.
   13. 16

       A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.

       • Forever is composed of Nows— / 'T is not a different time, / Except for infiniteness / And latitude of home.
       • 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.
   14. 17

       Misspelling of know.

       • I don't now.
   15. 18

       Acronym of National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization.

   16. 19

       Acronym of negotiable order of withdrawal (“an instrument similar to a check”).

The neighborhood

• neighborhappening