next

[[t]ne̱kst[/t]]

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1) ORD The next period of time, event, person, or thing is the one that comes immediately after the present one or after the previous one.

I got up early the next morning.

...the next available flight...

Who will be the next prime minister?...

I want my next child born at home...

Many senior citizens have very few visitors from one week to the next...

And then Captain Charles sings, `Don't ever laugh when a hearse goes by or you will be the next to die.'

2) DET You use next in expressions such as next Friday, next day and next year to refer, for example, to the first Friday, day, or year that comes after the present or previous one.

Let's plan a big night next week...

He retires next January...

Next day the European Community summit strengthened their ultimatum.

ADJ: n ADJ

Next is also an adjective.

I shall be 26 years old on Friday next.

PRON

Next is also a pronoun.

He predicted that the region's economy would grow by about six per cent both this year and next.

3) ADJ: det ADJ The next place or person is the one that is nearest to you or that is the first one that you come to.

Grace sighed so heavily that Trish could hear it in the next room...

The man in the next chair was asleep...

Stop at the next corner. I'm getting out.

4) ADV: ADV with cl, ADV after v, be ADV The thing that happens next is the thing that happens immediately after something else.

Next, close your eyes then screw them up tight...

I don't know what to do next...

The news is next.

5) ADV: ADV before v When you next do something, you do it for the first time since you last did it.

I next saw him at his house in Berkshire...

Maserati's engineers asked me some penetrating questions when we next met.

6) ADV: ADV adj-superl You use next to say that something has more of a particular quality than all other things except one. For example, the thing that is next best is the one that is the best except for one other thing.

The one thing he didn't have was a son. I think he's felt that a grandson is the next best thing...

At least three times more daffodils are grown than in Holland, the next largest grower.

Syn:

second

7) PHRASE: n PHR You use after next in expressions such as the week after next to refer to a period of time after the next one. For example, when it is May, the month after next is July.

...the party's annual conference, to be held in Bournemouth the week after next.

8) PHRASE: as group PHR (emphasis) If you say that you do something or experience something as much as the next person, you mean that you are no different from anyone else in the respect mentioned.

I enjoy pleasure as much as the next person...

I'm as ambitious as the next man. I'd like to manage at the very highest level.

9) PHRASE: V inflects You can say the next thing I knew to suggest that a new situation which you are describing was surprising because it happened very suddenly. [INFORMAL, SPOKEN]

I had leaned over to pick up some change, and the next thing I knew I felt this terrible pain in my ankle.

10) PHR-PREP If one thing is next to another thing, it is at the other side of it.

She sat down next to him on the sofa.

...at the southern end of the Gaza Strip next to the Egyptian border...

The car was parked in the small weedy lot next to the hotel.

Syn:

beside

11) PHR-PREP You use next to in order to give the most important aspect of something when comparing it with another aspect.

Her children were the number two priority in her life next to her career...

Next to the expense of cashiers, pricing items is one of the costliest labor costs of grocery retailers.

Syn:

after

12) PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR, PHR nothing/adj You use next to before a negative, or a word that suggests something negative, to mean almost, but not completely.

Johnson still knew next to nothing about tobacco...

Last year a Food Commission report revealed that most pre-prepared weight loss products are next to useless.

Syn:

almost