away
pronunciation
How to pronounce away in British English:
UK [əˈweɪ]
How to pronounce away in American English:
US [əˈweɪ]
-
- Adjective:
- distant in either space or time
- not present; having left
- used of an opponent's ground
- (of a baseball pitch) on the far side of home plate from the batter
-
- Adverb:
- from a particular thing or place or position (`forth' is obsolete)
- from one's possession
- out of the way (especially away from one's thoughts)
- out of existence
- at a distance in space or time
- indicating continuing action; continuously or steadily
- so as to be removed or gotten rid of
- freely or at will
- in or into a proper place (especially for storage or safekeeping)
- in a different direction
- in reserve; not for immediate use
Word Origin
- away
- away: [OE] Away was formed in the late Old English period by conflating the phrase on weg, literally ‘on way’, that is, ‘on one’s way, departing’. This soon became reduced to aweg, hence away.=> way
- away (adv.)
- late Old English aweg, earlier on weg "on from this (that) place;" see a- (1) + way (n.). Colloquial use for "without delay" (fire away, also right away) is from earlier sense of "onward in time" (16c.). Intensive use (as in away back) is American English, first attested 1818.
Antonym
Example
- 1. He has to wave away waiters several times .
- 2. Swine flu isn 't going away .
- 3. I feel like everything is getting away from me .
- 4. He 's been away for three days now !
- 5. The temptation to overreach is never far away .