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current

Wikipedia

From Middle English curraunt, borrowed from Old French curant (French courant), present participle of courre (“to run”), from Latin currere (“to run”) (present participle currens). Doublet of courant.

• enPR: kŭr′ənt, (hurry–furry merger) kûr′ənt
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹənt/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (Northern England, Midlands) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊɹənt/
• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkɐɹənt/
• (General American, Canada)
  • (without the hurry–furry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌɹɪnt/, /ˈkʌɹənt/

    • Audio (US):

      (file)

  • (hurry–furry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkɜɹɪnt/, /ˈkɜɹənt/

    • Audio (US, hurry–furry merger):

      (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɹənt, -ɜː(ɹ)ənt
• Homophone: currant
• Homophone: courant (with both the hurry–furry merger and cure–fir merger)

current (countable and uncountable, plural currents)

1. The generally unidirectional movement of a gas or fluid.
   • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

     The mantle is important to our discussion in that its viscous nature can conduct convection currents that have effects on the crust upon which we live.

2. The part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction, especially (oceanography) ellipsis of ocean current.

   Synonyms: flow, stream

3. (electricity) Ellipsis of electric current.
   1. (by extension, South Asia) electricity, power in general.
4. A tendency or a course of events.

   Synonyms: flow, stream, tendency

• Not to be confused with currant.

• → Punjabi: karaṇṭ

  Gurmukhi script: ਕਰੰਟ

  Shahmukhi script: کرنٹ

• → Tamil: கரண்ட் (karaṇṭ), கரண்டு (karaṇṭu), கரண்ட்டு (karaṇṭṭu)

current (comparative currenter or more current, superlative currentest or most current)

1. Existing or occurring at the moment.

   Synonyms: present; see also Thesaurus:present

   Antonyms: future, past

   current events

   current leaders

   current negotiations

   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 189, number 6, archived from the original on 13 October 2026, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

2. Generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment; having currency.

   Synonyms: fashionable, prevailing, prevalent, rife, up-to-date; see also Thesaurus:fashionable

   Antonyms: out-of-date, unfashionable; see also Thesaurus:unfashionable

   current affairs

   current bills and coins

   current fashions

   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations:

     That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt.

   • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:

     The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

3. (South Asia) Electric; of or relating to electricity.

   current bill

   current shock

   • 2021 June 13, Ravali Hymavathi, “Telangana: Even The TSSPDCL Is Facing Heavy Losses Due To Covid-19”, in The Hans India‎^[2], archived from the original on 17 July 2024:

     In April and May this year, the average daily current consumption dropped to 55 MU […] Compared to household electricity charges, the current unit charge used by commercial companies is higher. […] Electricity consumption is generally higher in summer as compared to monsoon and winter. The use of ACs will increase not only in homes but also in commercial establishments and current consumption will increase.

4. (obsolete) Running or moving rapidly.

   Synonym: speeding

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 114:

     For here we met, some ten or twelve of us, / To chase a creature that was current then / In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.

• Curtner

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʊr.rɛnt]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkur.rent]

current

1. third-person plural future active indicative of currō