Word.ws English Dictionary

hitherto

Syllables: hi·ther·toUK/ˌhɪðəˈtuː//ˈhɪðəɹˌtu/

hitherto adverb: up to this or that time.

Adverb

hitherto (not comparable)

  1. (also, formal) Up to this or that time.
    • All men att the begynnynge⸝ ſett forth goode wyne⸝ And when men be dronke⸝ then thatt which is worſſe: Butt thou haſt kept backe the goode wyne hetherto.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Jhon ij:[10], folio cxxj, recto
    • [T]he greateſt and moſt active part of Mankind, has never hetherto been vvell contented vvith the preſent.1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Office of the Soveraign Representative”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for...
  2. (archaic, literary) Up to this place.
    • Hither to ſhalt thou come, but no further, and here ſhalt thou laye downe thy proude and hye wawes.^([sic – meaning waves])1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Job xxxviij:[11]...
    • The Archdeacon hath diuided it / Into three limits very equally: / England from Trent, and Seuerne hitherto, / By South and Eaſt is to my part aſsignd: […]c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]...
  3. (archaic, literary) In speech or writing: up to this point; thus far.
    • The great man dovvne, you marke his fauourite flyes, / The poore aduanc'd, makes friends of enemies, / And hetherto doth loue on fortune tend, / For vvho not needes, ſhall neuer lacke a friend, / And vvho in vvant a hollovv friend doth try, / Directly ſeaſons him his enemy.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
    • "Really, Mr. Collins," cried Elizabeth with some warmth, "you puzzle me exceedingly. If what I have hitherto said can appear to you in the form of encouragement, I know not how to express my refusal in such a way as to convince you of its being one."1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XIX, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 251
  4. (obsolete) Synonym of hereto (“regarding this subject; to achieve this result; to this end”).
    • And the eſpeciall intent of this meeting is, to receive our Biſhops directions for the adminiſtration of the Sacraments and Preaching, as his Articles informe us. Hitherto, if I can but hold me by my text, I hope not to fall into impertinencies.1635 August 27 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), John Pocklington, Sunday No Sabbath. A Sermon Preached before the Lord Bishop of Lincolne, at His Lordships Visitation at Ampthill in the County...
    Synonyms:
    hereto

Adjective

hitherto (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Existing or occurring before now; former, preceding, previous.
    • At the same time, then, that the categorical imperative can enjoin nothing without liability to exception but disinterested obedience to itself, it will have no lack of definite content. The particular duties which it enjoins will at least be all those in the practice of which, according to the...1883 (date written), Thomas Hill Green, “Characteristics of the Moral Ideal”, in A[ndrew] C[ecil] Bradley, editor, Prolegomena to Ethics, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1883, →OCLC...

hitherto meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

hitherto in Tamil

இதுவரை, இந்நேரம்வரை

hitherto in Urdu

آج تک, اب تک, ہنوز, یہاں تک

hitherto in Bengali

এযাবৎ, এখন পর্যন্ত, ইতিপূর্বে

hitherto in Telugu

up to this or that time
అప్పటివరకు appaṭivaraku, ఇప్పటివరకు ippaṭivaraku
More languagesFewer languages
hitherto in Malayalam
ഇത്രത്തോളം, ഇതുവരെ, ഇക്കാലത്തോളം
hitherto in Kannada
ಈವರೆಗೆ, ಇದುವರೆಗೆ, ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ, ಇಷ್ಟು ಕಾಲದವರೆಗೆ
hitherto in Arabic
حَتَّى الْآن ḥattā l-ʔān
hitherto in Indonesian
hingga kini, sampai saat ini, sampai sekarang
hitherto in Persian
تاکنون tâ-konun

Examples of hitherto in a sentence

  • But Charles, as vvell from unvvillingneſs to alienate a province of ſo much value, as from diſguſt at the Pope, vvho had hitherto refuſed to join in the vvar againſt Francis, rejected the propoſal.1769, William Robertson, “Book VII”, in The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. […], volume III, London: […] W. and W. Strahan...
  • The exhaustless conjecturings of that evening's full conversation, made such of the small party, as had hitherto been strangers, well acquainted with each other's turn of mind; […]1830, Anna Maria Porter, chapter X, in The Barony. […], volume III, London: […] [A[ndrew] & R[obert] Spottiswoode] for Longman, Rees, Orme...
  • The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.1888, Karl Marx; Frederick [i.e., Friedrich] Engels, “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, in Samuel Moore, transl., edited by Frederick Engels...
  • The results of this study argue for a greater endonormativity in Indian English than has hitherto been recognised.2014 March, James Lambert, “Diachronic Stability in Indian English Lexis”, in World Englishes, volume 33, number 1, Chichester, West...

All 31 example sentences with hitherto

Synonyms of hitherto

23 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

3 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of hitherto

Origin of hitherto

The adverb is derived from Middle English hiderto (“to the present time, until now; up to this point”), from hider (“in this direction, to or toward this place; up to the present time, until now”) (from Old English hider (“to here, hither”)) + to (“in the direction of, toward; etc.”). By surface analysis, hither + to. The adjective is derived from the adverb.

Questions about hitherto

What does hitherto mean?
Hitherto means up to this or that time.
What is hitherto in Tamil?
Hitherto in Tamil is இதுவரை, இந்நேரம்வரை. See Hitherto meaning in Tamil.
How do you use hitherto in a sentence?
But Charles, as vvell from unvvillingneſs to alienate a province of ſo much value, as from diſguſt at the Pope, vvho had hitherto refuſed to join in the vvar againſt Francis, rejected the propoſal.
What part of speech is hitherto?
Hitherto can be an adverb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce hitherto?
Hitherto is pronounced /ˌhɪðəˈtuː/ (UK).

Words near hitherto in the dictionary

  1. hithered and thithered
  2. hithering and thithering
  3. hithermost
  4. hithers and thithers
  5. hitherside
  6. hitherto
  7. hithertofore
  8. hitherunto
  9. hitherward
  10. hitherwards
  11. hithes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hitherto (page history and authors); hitherto (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hitherto (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Hitherto (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hitherto (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hitherto (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-hitherto.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hitherto.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hitherto. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.