up to now
33
1.6
- idiom
- Up to now, it's all been fun and games, huh?
- up to now, only
- up to now, few
- up to now, however
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Watch on YouTubeAnd that has been the approach that has worked up to now.
- And that has been the approach that has worked up to now.
- I've got to be honest with you, up to now, Alfie really hasn't brought any problems to my door.
- This is a radical departure of how we have produced technology up to now.
- OK, we can't use the the techniques that have been successful for us up to now.
- Well, it actually seems to have a lot in common with the thing I've been talking about up to now, the experience of inner speech.
- So in this chapter, I talk about the ingredients that you've been reading up to now.
- If anyone wants to go and learn about the Jelaine Maxwell scandal and where everything's up to now.
- Do we have, I mean, that's up to now we can answer that question.
- And I think everything just grow like this up to now.
- How much time a week, you know, does it take you up to now?
Examples
-
I've done all right up to now
-
I do not want to sound too pessimistic, but up to now it has been disappointing.
Academic text (1997) -
What are you up to now?
-
What are you up to now, Professor?
-
Now, I say "probably" because up to now I have been absolutely perfect.
-
What the devil are they up to now?
-
Everything you have done up to now has been preparation for this one story.
Fiction book (1995) -
Up to now, I thought you were a fake.
-
Everyone we've talked to up to now has either refused to talk or changed their story.
Fiction book (1990) -
Up to now, I have been able to keep all my promises.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
At this exact moment or right away
∞
1.0
At the present time
292
1.0
Up to the present time
151
1.8
Up to now
102
1.2
Now, not in the past or future
86
3.5
Up to the present time, often used when something has not happened
51
3.5
At the present time
18
9.7
Before this time
12
8.2
Up to now
1
9.9
Before that time
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'until now' is directly compositional: 'up to' marks a temporal limit or boundary and 'now' specifies the present moment, so together they yield 'up to the present'. This limit+time pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English composition, so a B1 learner who knows the parts should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Up to now may come from thinking of time as a line. If you move up along the line to the point now, you reach the present moment, so it means 'until now'.