Talk:as

"As such"
I'm familiar with as in the phrase "as such", meaning something along the lines of "consequently". So you might say "I am very interested in loud music. As such, I have just upgraded my stereo." This is pretty common usage in the UK, but I have heard a rumour that it was only recently invented, by Monty Python. Can anyone shed any light on this, and whether it should be included in the dictionary?

There is also a variant "Not as such". This seems to be just a slightly 'slippery' way of saying "no". So if you had been making overblown claims about your skills as an aquatic pedestrian, someone might ask you "But can you *actually* walk on water?", and you might reply "Well, not as such. But I am a very good swimmer, so it sometimes appears that way." This definitely appeared in Python (see and search the page for "not as such").

Thanks, 86.1.161.152 12:19, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

preposition?
I guess it's difficult to differ the meaning of preposition "as" from that of a conjunction. Cambridge says that it is a preposition but I semantically (and humbly) disagree. The examples given there could be explained transcluding "as" as this conjunction: Our example uses two "as" that can also be explained (adverb-conjunction): Is this example incorrect? Any help? In languages derived from latin, I can suppose that this "adverb" could be usually understood as a comparative conjunction or relative (referential) pronoun [as the ones translated into English as who, when, where, how, what]. Couldn't be the definition "In the manner of (used to create similes)." the same as this comparative or relative?
 * "She works as a waitress" > "She works in the same way that a waitress"
 * "I meant it as a joke" > "I meant it in the same way that a joke"
 * "You are not (as) tall as I am" > "You are not (to such an extent or degree) tall in the same way that I am" [the adverb can be omitted, also in Spanish - Galician - Portuguese, AFAIK]

In any case: Spanish como cannot be the translation of the preposition, as it is not a preposition in that language (see). --Sobreira 21:59, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

one of the conjunction definitions...
... reads, "Varying through time to the same proportion that." I have no idea what that means. (And I'm a native speaker.) Tooironic 05:32, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

as
Nominating two senses s.v. ===Adverb===:

2. Considered in this way.
 * Let's discuss this as a question of business.

3. In the manner specified.
 * The kidnappers released him as agreed.

The first of these looks like a preposition to me, covered already by the ===Preposition=== sense

2. In the role of.
 * What is your opinion as a parent?
 * The movie features Al Gore as a streetwise pimp.

, and the second like a conjunction, covered already by the ===Conjunction=== sense

1. In the same way that; according to what.
 * As you wish, my lord!

. &#x200b;—msh210℠ 16:49, 26 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Already my head hurts. For sense #2, Delete. The gloss is not substitutable in the usage example, which would make me suspicious. Moreover, I cannot see what verbal, adjectival, or adverbial it might be modifying as a stand-alone adverb. It is also clearly not a sentence adverb. In the usage example "as a question of business" seems to be analyzable as (!) a prepositional phrase. It can also function as (!) a PP in other settings, of course.
 * Sense #3 seems harder. The conjunction definition you propose is not substitutable in the usage example. I think the sense also works with present participles and prepositional phrases: "The parties were seen as agreeing on a range of issues", "This prisoner exchange was allowed, as being in agreement with the current efforts to show good faith"; "The exchange was welcomed as in agreement with outsiders' assessment of an easing of tensions." Other dictionaries show this as an adverb. CGEL has a classification that I can't reconcile with our PoSs. We do have the option of "conjunctive adverb". IOW, I am uncertain but skeptical on this. DCDuring TALK 23:58, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Removed 2. &#x200b;—msh210℠ 19:13, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Kept 3, added one of DCDuring's usexes from above, and tagged the definition with "may need to be worded better" (or something like that). Striking. &#x200b;—msh210℠ (talk) 20:28, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

RFV discussion: March–July 2014
I want to add this definition to as:


 * "(UK, Australia, slang) Very, extremely."
 * She's clever as, like.

The problem is that it is unciteable as - "as" is such a common, versatile word that even seemingly implausible word combinations ("as as well", "as mate", "as too", "as like") get too many irrelevant hits on Google Books, and it's no good searching books written in promising dialects either (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning might have an intensifying "as" in there somewhere, but it also has hundreds of conventional ones). It's in The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (where it's marked as "Australian"), but I can't think of any way to actually find the three citations we need... Any ideas? Smurrayinchester (talk) 10:30, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Closed. If it’s of any consolation, I’ve heard this before (something like “get the fuck out, simple as”). — Ungoliant (falai) 03:46, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Role - adverb or preposition?
"in the role of" seems to be there twice, as an adverb and as a preposition. Siuenti (talk) 13:06, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

As hell
There is an idiomatic use in Australia wherein people say "as" as a shortened form of "as hell", like "I was angry as, so I punched him". I'm having trouble finding citations. Can anyone confirm it? The one-balled surfer on Angry Boys says it, and I think I've heard it in some other Australian tv. It's hard to google but you can find some uses too ephemeral to cite if you search for "angry as, mate" or sexy, wild, stupid, retarded, drunk, dumb, etc, all those come up with uses. WurdSnatcher (talk) 00:17, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2014–July 2015
Rfv-sense (Portuguese): (Non-standard, Fast Speech) but

— Ungoliant (falai) 14:23, 29 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Rfv-sense
 * https://twitter.com/grupovolareijui/status/263297880809435138 (a reply)
 * https://twitter.com/SCHvaleria/status/210911651069829120
 * hard to find it written. even harder recorded without a search tool. maybe that's indeed a wrong sense because I see myself using it instead of "mas" but not with a "but" sense.


 * RFV-failed. - -sche (discuss) 21:00, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

"as" meaning "if"
"Good Sir, quoth Sancho, as you love me, do not let me stay to see you naked." This seems to mean "if" (rather than "since", or "inasmuch as", or anything else). Do we need another sense? Equinox ◑ 16:17, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

But it is not an entailment, as evident from the example in [13 ].
Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 41; is the elision of the verb in "as evident from..." grammatical or a typo? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:15, 4 October 2019 (UTC)

as if
The entry of 'twere reads "You drink wine as 'twere water!" --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:00, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

as not
There're many instances of "is/are likely as not" --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:49, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

RFV discussion: April–May 2020
Adverb sense:


 * In the manner or role (specified).

Per Tea_room/2020/April, the examples that previously supported this definition have been deemed not to be examples of "as" as an adverb. To save it, we need to find genuine adverb examples (distinct from the other existing adverb senses, of course). Mihia (talk) 17:23, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 20:47, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Synonym of conjunction "for"
I don't know if this is proper usage, but it's rather common in Wikipedia articles for "as" to serve as a synonym of the conjunction "for." For example: "Bob was late to work, as he had misplaced his key." This is similar, but not quite, to the definition Wiktionary gives: "Being that, considering that, because, since&mdash;As it’s too late, I quit."

From the Wikipedia article Pinyin: Attempts to make pinyin standard in Taiwan occurred in 2002 and 2009, but "Today Taiwan has no standardized spelling system" so that in 2019 "alphabetic spellings in Taiwan are marked more by a lack of system than the presence of one." Moreover, "some cities, businesses, and organizations, notably in the south of Taiwan, did not accept [efforts to introduce pinyin], as it suggested that Taiwan is more closely tied to the PRC", so it remains one of several rival romanization systems in use.

These cats are as like as though they were of the same litter
Is as though being used here? These cats are as like [[as though] they were of the same litter] --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:18, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

Pronoun?
1. (used relatively) that; who; which (usually prec. by such or the same): I have the same trouble as you had. 2. a fact that: She did her job well, as can be proved by the records. 3. Dialect Term [New England, Midland, and Southern U.S.] who; whom; which; that: Them as has gets. https://www.wordreference.com/definition/as --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:30, 8 November 2020 (UTC)