There are unambiguous words, but there are ambiguous ones that have not one but several meanings. Today we’ll talk about the meaning of the word “time”. The hero of our article has no shortage of interpretation, because the word is used in a variety of contexts. But one thing is clear: time is something that everyone is constantly lacking. And it doesn’t matter how many people lived in the world.
Value
The object of our study is similar to a jammed coin that people use, but it is completely no longer visible what is written on it. Children have plenty of time, but the older a person becomes, the less time he has. This is easy to explain. Nothing is required from the child. Is it possible to compare school and work or school and family? For a boy or girl, adults are given freedom for the time being. However, we were distracted. Let's look at that book, which we almost never part with, to find out the meaning of the word “time” in the explanatory dictionary:
- This is one of the forms of existence of infinitely developing matter.
- Duration, duration of anything. It is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, centuries.
- The gap in which something happens. Successive change of hours, days, years. For example: "He hoped to spend some time in the south, maybe a week, or maybe two."
- A certain moment when something happens. For example: "Couples were scheduled for the afternoon, so Alexander Vasilyevich suddenly got a window."
- Historical period, era. For example: "The reign of Ivan the Terrible."
- It's time for a day or a year. For example: "Morning time."
- Suitable, convenient moment. For example: "It's time to eat."
- The period of rest, idleness. For example: "Free time from work."
- The grammatical category of the verb or noun.
The lexical meaning of the word “time” is almost boundless, as can be seen from the above list. It’s good that the native speaker doesn’t feel this burden, and the foreigner - yes, it’s difficult for him. Such is the great and mighty, what can I do.
Synonyms
“If so many meanings, then how many synonyms? You can probably drown in them, ”the reader thinks in horror. But you should not be afraid, because we are not tormentors, but humanists and we do not want the reader to die from a glut of information. But duty tells you to specify at least some replacement words. Here is the list:
- year;
- Duration
- leisure;
- minute;
- moment;
- period;
- it's time
- duration
- second;
- term;
- chronos;
- hour;
- era.
A total of 13 substitutions. A good number if the reader is not too superstitious. Of course, you can still come up with various synonyms that depend on the context. The main thing is that we have the initial prerequisites for creativity - the meaning of the word and its synonyms.
Images of time
I would like to talk about the visual images that a person associates with the concept of "time" in the context of the topic. Almost automatically two things come to mind: on the one hand, sand, and on the other - water. Huge or small hourglasses are associated with the first, and the Leta River in the underworld of the dead, where Hades rules, is associated with the second. Why do these images most clearly illustrate the definition and meaning of the word "time"? Because all three concepts (water, sand and time) are united by fluidity (in the case of sand, flowability). After all, it always seems that there is still a lot of time. Each person has as much as grains of sand in the desert. At least, he thinks so at first, and then time becomes disastrously short.
You can measure the time in persons, for example, historians do this when they talk about the periods of rule of different kings. In sports, their heroes, for example, if we talk about football, now is the time of Messi and Ronaldo. And some use this particular reference point as a guideline in the flow of minutes, hours, days, years.
In their personal lives, people primarily remember fundamental meetings or promotions in order to somehow determine how much time has passed. When a man or woman has a job, the days merging into years, and then into decades, lose their individuality. Much becomes indistinguishable against the general background.
Riddle of the concept
The meaning of the word "time" is mysterious in fact. A man, if he asks eternal questions about the meaning of life, for example, cannot but think about time, about fate. Therefore, this is an extremely fertile topic for art books or films. The trilogy “Back to the Future” (1985–1990), as well as the books “And the Thunder struck” (1952) by R. Bradbury and “The Time Machine” (1895) by Herbert Wells, immediately come to my mind.
Probably, science fiction lovers could give lists of works that would shock us all with their size, but the task is not to amaze with erudition, but to provide the word "time" with meaning and memorable examples. It seems that we did a good job of our duty.