DictionaryAI

current

KUR-uhnt/ˈkʌɹ.ənt/

Noun pluralcurrents

7 meanings of current

Practice

  1. 1
    presentadjective
    Existing or happening at the present time rather than in the past or future.

    Her current job pays better than the one she left.

    The current weather makes the mountain trail too dangerous to climb.

    UsageUsually before a noun: my current job, the current owner (not incorrect: my actual job, a common slip for some learners).

    Similarpresent, present-day, contemporary

    Oppositepast, future

  2. 2
    moving waternouncountable
    A body of water or air moving in a definite direction, especially through a larger mass such as the sea, a river or the atmosphere.

    The current carried the raft several miles down the coast.

    Sailors learned to read the ocean currents before setting out.

    UsageOften a strong current, or swim against the current. Don't confuse it with currant, a small dried fruit.

    Similarflow, stream

    Note

    Oceanographers use the bare word as shorthand for ocean current, so a current in a sea report can mean a lasting flow such as the Gulf Stream or a tidal current that turns with the tide. More broadly, the word covers any steady flow of water, air or gas in one direction, and in that use it is close in meaning to stream or flow.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  3. 3
    flow of chargenouncountable or uncountable
    The amount of electric charge flowing past a point in each unit of time.

    Engineers measured the current passing through the heavy cable.

    A higher voltage can push more current through the same resistor.

    UsageSay electric current when water or air could also be meant; it is measured in amperes.

    Similaramperage

    Note

    In physics and electrical engineering the quantity has a standard symbol, an italic capital I, with lowercase i often used for a current that changes over time. In the SI system it is measured in amperes (A); the older electrostatic CGS units express it in statamperes, or esu per second. In equations you will see the bare I; on meters, the ampere, marked A or mA.

  4. 4
    in general useadjective
    Generally accepted, used, or practiced at the present time; in common circulation.

    That spelling is no longer current in modern writing.

    The theory was current among scholars of the period before being disproved.

    UsageOften after a verb: still current, no longer current, as in the spelling is no longer current.

    Oppositeout-of-date, unfashionable

    Note

    Money is where this meaning shows most plainly. Current bills and coins are the ones in circulation, and John Arbuthnot's Tables of Ancient Coins (1727) holds that "there was current money in Abraham's time." That is why something current is said to have currency. Current beliefs and current practices extend the idea to ideas and habits, and the clearest opposite is out-of-date or obsolete.

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    general moodnouncountable
    A prevailing tendency or general direction in which events or opinions move.

    A current of reform swept through the old institution.

    He sensed the shifting current of public opinion long before the vote.

    UsageUsually a current of + a noun: a current of reform, a current of anger.

    Similartendency

    Note

    Here the image of moving water is carried over to events and opinion: a current of reform, the current of public opinion. This sense shares the synonyms flow and stream with the ocean sense, and like them it suggests something that carries people along. Tendency is the flatter synonym, while current adds a sense of direction and force.

  2. 6
    adjectiveSouth Asia
    Having to do with electricity or the electricity supply; electric.

    The landlord pays for water, but tenants pay their own current bills.

    After the storm, a current wire was left dangling over the lane, so nobody let the children play outside.

    UsageOutside this region current bill may be heard as the present bill; electricity bill is clearer there.

    Note

    In South Asian English, current simply stands for electric or electricity. People speak of a current bill, a current shock, or daily current consumption, as in Ravali Hymavathi's 2021 report on Telangana's power distributor. The usage is ordinary there.

    The current bill went up again this month.

    He got a current shock from the faulty switch.

  3. 7
    adjectiveobsolete
    Running or moving rapidly.
    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.
    1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”
    Note

    This is the meaning nearest the Latin "to run." In Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859), the knights chase a hart "that was current then / In these wild woods." The line is easy to misread as the "existing now" sense, but here the creature is running. Treat this use as a poet's archaism; in everyday modern English the word no longer means running.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The running sense reflects the word's Latin origin meaning “to run.” en.wiktionary.org
    • Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King, whose first volume appeared in 1859. d.lib.rochester.edu
    • The quoted words describe a hart hunted by Merlin and his companions. d.lib.rochester.edu
    • The quotation exemplifies the obsolete meaning “running or moving rapidly.” en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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Origin

Latin currere ("to run") gave Old French courre ("to run"), whose present participle curant was borrowed into Middle English as curraunt. It is a doublet of courant.