now

Pronunciation

• IPA: /naʊ/

Adjective

now (not comparable)

1. Present; current.
2. (informal) Fashionable; popular; up to date; current.
   • I think this band's sound is very now.
3. (archaic, law) At the time the will is written. Used in order to prevent any inheritance from being transferred to a person of a future marriage. Does not indicate the existence of a previous marriage.
   • Now wife.

Adverb

now (not comparable)

1. At the present time.
   • Now I am six.
   • Stop that now, Jimmy!
2. (sentential) 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Used to indicate a context of urgency.
   • Now listen, we must do something about this.
6. (obsolete) As 'but now': Very recently; not long ago; up to the present.
7. Used to address a switching side, or sharp change in attitude from before. (In this usage, now is usually emphasized).
   • Now, you want to protect me. An hour ago, you were mercilessly bullying me!
8. Sometimes; occasionally.
   • His face fit his roles: now smiling, now earnest, now glowering, now raging.

Conjunction

now

1. Since, because, in light of the fact; often with that.
   • 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.
   • Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
   • Now that we're all here, let's start the meeting.

Interjection

now!

1. Indicates a signal to begin.
   • Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!

Noun

now (usually uncountable, plural nows)

1. (uncountable) The present time.
   • Now is the right time.
   • There is no better time than now.
2. (often with "the") The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.
   • Synonyms: here and now; see also the present
   • She is living in the now.
3. (countable, chiefly in phenomenology) A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.

Verb

now

1. Misspelling of know.
   • I don't now. (intended: I don't know.)

Anagrams

• NWO, own, won

Adverb

now

1. Alternative form of neow