Word.ws English Dictionary

now or never

UK/ˌnaʊ‿ə ˈnɛvə/US/ˌnaʊ‿əɹ ˈnɛvəɹ/

now or never adverb: at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all.

Adverb

now or never (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic, set phrase) At this sole opportunity or time, or not at all.
    • [A]s you tender the welfare of your country, I entreat you not to forget or delay so public-spirited a work. Now or never is the time.1709 July 17 (Gregorian calendar), Jenny Distaff [pseudonym; Richard Steele], “Wednesday, July 7, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 38; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London...
    • "Come off, now or never," cried Amyas, clutching him by the arm, and dragging him away like a child.1855, Charles Kingsley, “What Befel at La Guayra”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page...

Examples of now or never in a sentence

  • It's now or never / Come hold me tight / Kiss me my darling / Be mine tonight / Tomorrow will be too late / It's now or never / My love won't wait1960 April 3 (date recorded), Wally Gold, Aaron Schroeder, Eduardo di Capua, “It’s Now or Never”, performed by Elvis Presley, New York...
  • Mamma mia, even if I say / "Bye-bye", leave me now or never / Mamma mia, it's a game we play / Bye-bye doesn't mean forever1975 March 12 (date recorded), Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson, “Mamma Mia”, in ABBA, performed by ABBA, New York, N.Y....
  • There had been a sense of now or never about this semi-final for United.2021 April 29, Jamie Jackson, “Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes help Manchester United hit Roma for six”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The...

Words formed from now or never

Words that rhyme with now or never

17 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about now or never

What does now or never mean?
Now or never means at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all.
How do you use now or never in a sentence?
It's now or never / Come hold me tight / Kiss me my darling / Be mine tonight / Tomorrow will be too late / It's now or never / My love won't wait
What part of speech is now or never?
Now or never is an adverb.
How do you pronounce now or never?
Now or never is pronounced /ˌnaʊ‿ə ˈnɛvə/ (UK).

Words near now or never in the dictionary

  1. now for
  2. now hear this
  3. now I've heard everything
  4. now I've seen everything
  5. now now
  6. now or never
  7. now that
  8. now that you mention it
  9. now that's what I call
  10. now then
  11. now there's a thought

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: now or never (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-now or never.ogg.

Cite this entry: “now or never.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/now_or_never. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.