Until
Pronunciation
- enPR: ÅntÄl', IPA: /É™nˈtɪl/
- Rhymes: -ɪl
- Hyphenation: un + til
Origin
From Old Norse und ("as far as, up to") and til ("until, up to")
Full definition of until
Preposition
- Up to the time of (something happening).
- 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, Our banks are out of control, Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic …. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.
- Before (a time).
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 1, I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
- 2013-06-21, Chico Harlan, Japan pockets the subsidy …, Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
- (obsolete) To; physically towards.
- SpenserHe roused himself full blithe, and hastened them until.
Usage notes
It is typically assumed that circumstances have changed or could change at the referenced time. For instance, “All has gone well until now†implies that the current situation may not be so good.
Antonyms
Conjunction
- Up to the time that (a condition becomes true).
- 2013-07-19, Peter Wilby, Finland spreads word on schools, Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
- Before (a condition becoming true).