here
- 1In, at or to this place, the one near the speaker.
The keys are here on the table.
It's cold here in winter.
UsageCan follow a noun directly: the people here. Right here adds emphasis.
Oppositethere
Note
It pairs with there as the near point pairs with the far. The uses for time, argument and context all borrow this picture of nearness.
- 2Placed first in a sentence, usually before be, come or go, to introduce, hand over, or draw attention to someone or something.
Here are the keys to the apartment, and the spare is on the hook.
The music swelled, and someone whispered, "Here comes the bride."
UsagePut noun subjects after the verb, but personal pronouns before it: here comes the bus, here it comes.
- 3In this context or on this point; in the matter now being discussed.
The term is used loosely elsewhere, but here it has a precise meaning.
Here 'client' means the software, not the customer.
Note
The writer's version treats the text itself as the place. It fences off a term's meaning within that text: "elsewhere X, but here Y." Scholarly prose also uses it to set the scope of the work at hand, as in William James's "all that will be attempted here." In the present context is the longer, more formal paraphrase.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- William James wrote “all that will be attempted here,” referring to the scope of his discussion in “The Chicago School.” dhspriory.org
- 4At the present stage or juncture of a discussion, story, process, or the like.
Here the story takes a strange turn.
We had better stop here for today.
Similarnow
Note
A process or argument is treated as a road, with the speaker standing at one point on it. Washington's "Here, perhaps I ought to stop" puts it at the head of a sentence. At the end of a clause, as in "Sophia broke down here," it marks the moment in a scene. Its noun counterpart is the "take it from here" noun.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Washington used “Here, perhaps I ought to stop” at the beginning of a sentence in his Farewell Address. tile.loc.gov
- “Sophia broke down here” is an attested quotation, with “here” at the end of the clause. en.wiktionary.org
- 5After be, present because happening now.
The moment of truth is here.
Spring is here at last.
Note
Time is pictured as a visitor who has arrived: seasons and occasions are "here" once they are happening. Behind it stands the plain place meaning. What is happening now is treated as standing beside the speaker.
- 6
Less common meanings
- 7This place or location.
From here the road drops to the valley.
Here is where the old mill stood before the flood.
UsageMostly after a preposition: from here, near here, out of here.
Oppositethere
Note
A place noun that usually has no plural, though philosophy gives it both an article and one: Bradley writes of "the here… with the other heres round it." In ordinary speech it appears as a subject ("here is where I met my spouse") or after a preposition (from here). With a possessive, as in "an Alzheimer patient's here," it names a place as one person experiences it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Bradley uses here with an article and the plural heres, and the quotation accurately abbreviates his wording. viachrista.org
- 8Interjection answering a roll call, meaning 'present' ('Smith… Here! Jones… Here!').
"Patel?" "Here, miss."
Every name got a 'here' except Walters.
Similaryes
- 9Interjection commanding a person or animal to come to the speaker ('Fido! Here!').
The dog froze at the gate until I whistled and shouted, 'Rex, here!'
The coach blew her whistle and shouted, 'Everybody, here! Huddle up!'
- 10Said when offering or handing something to the listener, often with a light insistence ('here, try this').
Here, use my pen.
Here, let me carry that for you.
Note
It is everyday and half-insisting, but it is an offer rather than a demand. That difference separates it from the hostile attention-getter, which shares its sound.
- 11This point or stage in time or in a process, pictured as a place.
Where do we go from here?
From here on, the work gets harder.
UsageMostly with from: where do we go from here?, from here on.
Similarnow
- 12This time, or the present situation.
Her advice was to live in the here and now.
Small children live in the here and now.
UsageMostly in the set phrase the here and now.
Similarpresent
- 13After a person's name or a noun for them, marking the person as present beside the speaker.
Anna here is our best mechanic.
The gentleman here has a question.
Note
A pointing gesture is put into words. Placed after a name, it presents the person standing by, which makes it natural in introductions: "Jim here has been with the company for twenty years."
- 14Used at the start of a remark to get attention, stress an opinion, or protest.
Here, that's my bike!
Here now, that's enough of that.
Similarhey
- 15After this or these, reinforcing the demonstrative.
This here road goes to the mill.
Them there fields and this here barn are all ours.
Note
A doubled demonstrative of informal and dialect speech: this says which, the adverb says where, and together they stress the pointing (this here orange). Spelled with a dropped h, as in "both 'ere buckets," it marks a speaker's voice on the page.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- 'Ere represents here with its initial h dropped; the bucket phrase is an illustrative example, not an attributed quotation. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
The word goes back to Proto-Indo-European roots by way of Proto-Germanic, and reached Old English as hēr ("at this place") and Middle English as her. The pronoun he is related, and so are hither ("to this place") and hence, meaning "from this place."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Here descends from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Germanic, Old English hēr (‘at this place’), and Middle English her. en.wiktionary.org
- Here is etymologically related to the pronoun he. en.wiktionary.org
- Hither is etymologically related to here and means ‘to this place’. en.wiktionary.org
- Hence is etymologically related to here and means ‘from this place’. en.wiktionary.org