today

/təˈdeɪ/

/təˈdeɪ/

Other forms: todays

Use today to mean this day, right now—not yesterday, and not tomorrow. If your big science project is due today and you haven't even started, you'd better get busy!

Today can also mean "at the present period of time." When someone says, "Kids spend too much time online today," they mean "nowadays," or "lately," not literally on this exact day. Before the 16th century, today was two separate words, to day, and then for another three hundred years or so, it was hyphenated: to-day. But today, we simply use today.

Definitions of today

1. adverb

   on this day as distinct from yesterday or tomorrow
   “I can't meet with you today”
2. adverb

   in these times
   “today almost every home has television”

   synonyms: now, nowadays
3. noun

   the day that includes the present moment (as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow)
   “Today is beautiful”

   “did you see today's newspaper?”

   type of:

   24-hour interval, day, mean solar day, solar day, twenty-four hour period, twenty-four hours

   time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
4. noun

   the present time or age
   “the world of today”

   “today we have computers”

   type of:

   nowadays, present

   the period of time that is happening now; any continuous stretch of time including the moment of speech