by now
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
at the present time, considering what has happened before
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
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Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: near to this moment
Register: neutral
Examples
I expected you to finish the project by now
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Everyday learner phrase (CEFR B2); level cross-referenced from published learner lists. Definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “by now” mean?
at the present time, considering what has happened before Literally: near to this moment
Is “by now” formal or informal?
by now is generally neutral.