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| next |
| s-2
| English |
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| Alternative forms |
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| neest (dialectal) |
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| neist (Scotland) |
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| nex (archaic) |
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| nex' (dialectal) |
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| Etymology |
| s-9
| From Middle English nexte, nexste, nixte, from Old English nīehsta, nīehste, etc., inflected forms of nīehst (“nearest, next”), superlative form of nēah (“nigh, near”), corresponding to Proto-Germanic *nēhwist (“nearest, closest”); equivalent to nigh + -est. |
| s-10
| Cognate with Saterland Frisian naist (“next”), Dutch naast (“next”), German nächst (“next”), Danish næste (“next”), Swedish näst (“next”), Icelandic næst (“next”), Persian نزد (nazd, “near, with”). |
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| Pronunciation |
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| enPR: nĕ kst, IPA (key): / nɛkst / |
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| Audio (US) |
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| Rhymes: -ɛkst |
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| Adjective |
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| next (not comparable) |
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| Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining. |
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| The man in the next bunk kept me awake all night with his snoring. |
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| She lives a mile or two away, in the next village. |
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| (obsolete) Most direct, or shortest or nearest in distance or time. |
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| Nearest in order, succession, or rank; immediately following (or sometimes preceding) in order. |
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| Please turn to the next page. |
| s-23
| On Wednesday next, I'm going to Spain. |
| s-24
| the next chapter; the next week; the Sunday next before Easter |
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| The man was driven by his love for money and his desire to become the next Bill Gates. |
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| (chiefly law) Nearest in relationship. |
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| (See also next of kin.) |
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| next friend |
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| Usage notes |
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| Near was originally the comparative form of nigh; the superlative form was next. |
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| Nigh is used today mostly in archaic, poetic, or regional contexts. |
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| Synonyms |
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| (nearest in order): See also Thesaurus: former or Thesaurus: subsequent |
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| Antonyms |
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| previous |
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| Derived terms |
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| next - day |
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| Determiner |
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| next |
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| Denotes the one immediately following the current or most recent one. |
| s-41
| Next week would be a good time to meet. |
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| I'll know better next time. |
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| (of days of the week or months of the year) Closest in the future, or closest but one if the closest is very soon; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) in the future. |
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| The party is next Tuesday; that is, not tomorrow, but eight days from now. |
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| When you say next Thursday, do you mean Thursday this week or Thursday next week? |
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| See also |
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| last |
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| this |
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| this coming |
| s-50
| week (as in Saturday week) |
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| Adverb |
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| next (not comparable) |
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| In a time, place, rank or sequence closest or following. |
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| They live in the next closest house. |
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| It's the next best thing to ice cream. |
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| (conjunctive) So as to follow in time or sequence something previously mentioned. |
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| First we removed all the handles; next, we stripped off the old paint. |
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| On the first subsequent occasion. |
| s-59
| Financial panic, earthquakes, oil spills, riots. |
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| What comes next? |
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| When we next meet, you'll be married. |
| s-62
| Antonyms |
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| previously |
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| Preposition |
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| next |
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| (obsolete or poetic) On the side of; nearest or adjacent to; next to. |
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| Noun |
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| next (uncountable) |
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| The one that follows after this one. |
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| Next, please, don't hold up the queue! |
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| One moment she was there, the next she wasn't . |
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| The week after next |
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| school |
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| English |
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| Pronunciation |
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| enPR: sko͞ol, IPA(key): / skuːl / |
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| Audio (Received Pronunciation) |
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| Rhymes: -uːl |
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| Etymology 1 |
| s-80
| From Middle English scole, schole (“group of persons, multitude, host, school of fish”), from Middle Dutch scole (“multitude, troop of people, swarm of animals”), from Old Dutch *scola, *skola (“troop, multitude”), from Proto-Germanic *skulō (“crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷel- (“crowd, people”). |
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| Cognate with Middle Low German schōle (“multitude, troop”), Old English scolu (“troop or band of people, host, multitude, school of fish”). Doublet of shoal. |
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| Alternative forms |
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| skull (obsolete) |
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| Noun |
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| school (1) of fish. |
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| school (plural schools) |
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| (collective) A group of fish or a group of marine mammals such as porpoises, dolphins, or whales. |
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| The divers encountered a huge school of mackerel. |
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| A multitude. |
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| Synonyms |
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| (fish): shoal |
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| Verb |
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| school (third-person singular simple present schools, present participle schooling, simple past and past participle schooled) |
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| (intransitive) (of fish) To form into, or travel in a school. |
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| Etymology 2 |
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| Elementary school |
| s-97
| From Middle English scole, from Old English scōl (“place of education”), from Proto-Germanic *skōla (“school”), from Late Latin schola, scola (“learned discussion or dissertation, lecture, school”), from Ancient Greek σχολεῖον (skholeîon), from σχολή (skholḗ, “spare time, leisure; conversations and the knowledge gained through them during free time; the places where these conversations took place”), from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold, have, possess”). |
| s-98
| Doublet of schola and shul. |
| s-99
| Compare Old Frisian skūle, schūle (“school”) (West Frisian skoalle, Saterland Frisian Skoule), Dutch school (“school”), German Low German School (“school”), Old High German scuola (“school”), Old Norse skóli (“school”). |
| s-100
| Influenced in some senses by Middle English schole (“group of persons, host, company”), from Middle Dutch scole (“multitude, troop, band”). |