different between advance vs near

English

Alternative forms

• advaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English avauncen, avancen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman avauncer, avancer, avancier (French avancer), from Vulgar Latin *abanti?re, from Late Latin abante, from Latin ab + ante (“before”). ?d? added in analogy to Latin ad- (cf. Middle French advancer). Compare avaunt.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Southern England) IPA^(key): /?d?v??ns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?væns/
• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?d?va?ns/
• Rhymes: -??ns, -æns

Verb

advance (third-person singular simple present advances, present participle advancing, simple past and past participle advanced)

1. To promote or advantage.
   1. To help the progress of (something); to further. [from 12th c.]
      • 2018, Kareem Shaheen, The Guardian, 26 January:

        Some see it as in effect the end of the Syrian uprising that began with peaceful protests against Assad’s police state in 2011, with opposition fighters working to advance Turkey’s interests at the expense of the revolution’s goals.

   2. To raise (someone) in rank or office; to prefer, to promote. [from 14th c.]
      • 1611, The Bible, Authorized (King James) Version, Esther III.1:

        After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.

      • 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic

        This, however, was in time evaded by the monarchs, who advanced certain of their own retainers to a level with the ancient peers of the land […]

2. To move forward in space or time.
   1. To move or push (something) forwards, especially forcefully. [from 14th c.]
      • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

        Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, / That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance / Thy miscreated front athwart my way / To yonder gates?

   2. To make (something) happen at an earlier time or date; to bring forward, to hasten. [form 15th c.]
   3. (intransitive) To move forwards; to approach. [from 16th c.]
      • 1829, Marchioness of Lemington, Rosina, or the Virtuous Country Maid, Ninth ed.:

        I advanced towards him step by step, stopping sometimes for fear of waking him.

   4. To provide (money or other value) before it is due, or in expectation of some work; to lend. [from 16th c.]
      • 1869, Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn:

        “I had intended to ask you to advance me a hundred pounds,” said Phineas.

      • 1871, James William Gilbart, The Principles and Practice of Banking:

        On the urgent representations of several parties of the first importance in the City of London, the bank advanced 120,000l. to the Governor and Company of the Copper Miners […].

   5. To put forward (an idea, argument etc.); to propose. [from 16th c.]
      • 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Crticism:

        Some ne'er advance a Judgement of their own, / But catch the spreading notion of the Town […].

   6. (intransitive) To make progress; to do well, to succeed. [from 16th c.]
      • 2014, Andrew Sparrow, The Guardian, 24 April:

        Earlier the caller said men were more likely to be in senior positions. Clegg says that's partly because the current maternity leave arrangements make it difficult for women to advance in the workplace.

   7. (intransitive) To move forward in time; to progress towards completion. [from 16th c.]
      • 1927, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes:

        I can promise you that you will feel even less humorous as the evening advances.

3. To raise, be raised.
   1. (transitive, now archaic) To raise; to lift or elevate. [from 14th c.]
      • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, I.2:

        The fringed Curtaines of thine eyes aduance.

   2. To raise or increase (a price, rate). [from 14th c.]
      • 1924, The Times, 16 July:

        In February last […] bakers advanced the price of bread sold over the counter in London from 8d. to 8½d. per quartern loaf.

   3. To increase (a number or amount). [from 16th c.]
   4. (intransitive) To make a higher bid at an auction. [from 18th c.]

Synonyms

• raise, elevate, exalt, aggrandize, improve, heighten, accelerate, allege, adduce, assign

Antonyms

• regress
• retract (in phonetics)

Derived terms

• advancement
• in advance
• in advance of

Translations

Noun

advance (plural advances)

1. A forward move; improvement or progression.

2. An amount of money or credit, especially given as a loan, or paid before it is due; an advancement.
   • 1917, James Joyce, Dubliners (Counterparts)

     Could he ask the cashier privately for an advance? No, the cashier was no good, no damn good: he wouldn't give an advance.

   • 1780, John Jay, letter dated November 21

     I shall, with pleasure, make the necessary advances.

3. An addition to the price; rise in price or value.

4. (in the plural) An opening approach or overture, now especially of an unwelcome or sexual nature.
   • 1708, Jonathan Swift, The Sentiments of a Church of England Man with Respect to Religion and Government

     For, if it were of any use to recall matters of fact, what is more notorious, than that prince's applying himself first to the church of England? and upon their refusal to fall in with his measures, making the like advances to the dissenters of all kinds, who readily and almost universally complied with him

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, chapter 4:

     As the sun fell, so did our spirits. I had tried to make advances to the girl again; but she would have none of me, and so I was not only thirsty but otherwise sad and downhearted.

   • 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt

     I felt vaguely he was a sneak, and remained quite unmollified by advances on his side, which, in a boy's barbarous fashion, unless it suited me to be magnanimous, I haughtily ignored.

Antonyms

• (forward move): regress, regression

Translations

Adjective

advance (comparative more advance, superlative most advance)

1. Completed before necessary or a milestone event.

2. preceding

3. forward

Derived terms

• advance person

English

Etymology

From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English n?ar (“nearer”, comparative of n?ah (“nigh”)), influenced by Old Norse nær (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *n?hwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *n?hw (“near”). Cognate with Old Frisian ni?r (“nearer”), Dutch naar (“to, towards”), German näher (“nearer”), Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”). See also nigh.

Near appears to be derived from (or at the very least influenced by) the North Germanic languages; compare Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”), as opposed to nigh, which continues the inherited West Germanic adjective, like Dutch na (“close, near”), German nah (“close, near, nearby”), Luxembourgish no (“nearby, near, close”). Both, however, are ultimately derived from the same Proto-Germanic root: *n?hw (“near, close”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: nîr, IPA^(key): /n??(?)/
• (US) enPR: nîr, IPA^(key): /n??/
• (near–square merger) IPA^(key): /n??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Adjective

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. Physically close.

   I can't see near objects very clearly without my glasses.

   Stay near at all times.

   Synonym: close

   Antonym: remote

2. Close in time.

3. Closely connected or related.

   The deceased man had no near relatives.
4. Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.

   A matter of near consequence to me.

5. Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.

6. So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow.

7. Approximate, almost.

8. (Britain, in relation to a vehicle) On the side nearest to the kerb (the left-hand side if one drives on the left).

   Antonym: off

9. (dated) Next to the driver, when he is on foot; (US) on the left of an animal or a team.

10. (obsolete) Immediate; direct; close; short.
11. (now rare) Stingy; parsimonious. [from 17th c.]

    Don't be near with your pocketbook.

    • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.1:

      “[T]o let you know, Miss, he's so near, it's partly a wonder how he lives at all: and yet he's worth a power of money, too.”

Synonyms

• (physically close): see also Thesaurus:near

Antonyms

• (physically close): see also Thesaurus:distant

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. At or towards a position close in space or time. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. Nearly; almost.

   He was near unconscious when I found him.

   I jumped into the near-freezing water.

   I near ruptured myself trying to move the piano.

   • 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence, (1867)

     […] he hears for certain that the Queen-Mother is about and hath near finished a peace with France […]

   • 1825, David Hume, Tobias George Smollett, The History of England, page 263

     Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse.

   • 2003, Owen Parry, Honor's Kingdom, page 365

     Thinking about those pounds and pence, I near forgot my wound.

   • 2004, Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land page 315

     "I damn near forgot." He pulled an envelope from his jacket.

   • 2006, Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror, page 377

     The fire was almost dead, the chamber near dark.

Usage notes

The sense of nearly or almost is dialect, colloquial, old-fashioned or poetic in certain uses, such as, in many cases, when near is used to directly modify a verb.

Derived terms

• near-minimal pair
• near-sighted

Translations

Preposition

near

2. Physically close to, in close proximity to.
   • 1820, Mary Shelley, Maurice, or The Fisher's Cot:

     He entered the inn, and asking for dinner, unbuckled his wallet, and sat down to rest himself near the door.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space:

     It shied, balked, and whinnied, and in the end he could do nothing but drive it into the yard while the men used their own strength to get the heavy wagon near enough the hayloft for convenient pitching.
3. Close to in time.

4. Close to in nature or degree.

   His opinions are near the limit of what is acceptable.

Usage notes

Joan Maling (1983) shows that near is best analysed as an adjective with which the use of to is optional, rather than a preposition. It has the comparative and the superlative, and it can be followed by enough. The use of to however is usually British.

Antonyms

• far from

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

near (third-person singular simple present nears, present participle nearing, simple past and past participle neared)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To come closer to; to approach.

Translations

See also

• near on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• para-
• nigh

Noun

near (plural nears)

1. The left side of a horse or of a team of horses pulling a carriage etc.

   Synonym: near side

   Antonym: off side

See also

• nearside

References

• near at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, vol.1, pp. 253-289.

Anagrams

• Arne, EARN, Earn, Nera, eRNA, earn, erna, nare, rean

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ne.ar/, [?neär]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ne.ar/, [?n???r]

Verb

near

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of ne?

Latvian

Verb

near

1. 2nd person singular present indicative form of neart
2. 3rd person singular present indicative form of neart
3. 3rd person plural present indicative form of neart
4. 2nd person singular imperative form of neart
5. (with the particle lai) 3rd person singular imperative form of neart
6. (with the particle lai) 3rd person plural imperative form of neart

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• ne n

Etymology

From Old Norse niðar, nominative and accusative plural of nið f (“waning moon”).

Noun

near pl (definite plural neane)

1. a lunar phase of an old moon, i.e. period of time in which the moon is waning

   Antonym: ny

References

• “ne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• aner, Arne, Erna, nare, rane, rena, Rena

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English nevere, from Old English n?fre.

Adverb

near

1. never

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN