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NOW
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The momentary present
Example:
it worked up to right now
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("now" is a kind of...):
nowadays; present (the period of time that is happening now; any continuous stretch of time including the moment of speech)
II. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In these times
Example:
today almost every home has television
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
Without delay or hesitation; with no time intervening
Example:
Come here now!
Synonyms:
at once; directly; forthwith; immediately; instantly; like a shot; now; right away; straight off; straightaway
Classified under:
Sense 3
Meaning:
Used to preface a command or reproof or request
Example:
now pay attention
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 4
Meaning:
At the present moment
Example:
it could happen any time now
Synonyms:
at present; now
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 5
Meaning:
In the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
Example:
the ship is now listing to port
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 6
Meaning:
In the immediate past
Example:
told me just now
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 7
Meaning:
(prefatory or transitional) indicates a change of subject or activity
Example:
Now the next problem is...
Classified under:
Adverbs
Context examples:
Henry groaned as he passed from sleep to waking, and demanded, "What's wrong now?"
(White Fang, by Jack London)
We shouldn't enjoy ourselves half so much as we do now.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Now, here's something that would do for you.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I knew it quite as well as I know it now.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to explore more than I had dared to do as yet.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
And now the call came to Buck in unmistakable accents.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Now, where was the other end?
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But now the ten minutes drew to an end.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
“Could it have been a man, Jim?” I asked, plucking up my courage now that I could hear the dogs barking on the farms.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We well know that through it corn-land has been turned into pasture, so that flocks of sheep with perchance a single shepherd wander now where once a hundred men had work and wage.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
