hic et nunc

adverb

Here and now, in the immediate present.

Meanings

adverbhic et nunc (comparative more hic et nunc, superlative most hic et nunc)

comparative more hic et nunc · superlative most hic et nunc · alternative hic-et-nunc

  1. Here and now, in the immediate present.

    “We need a Marshall Plan hic et nunc” proffered a man who, to camera and in profile, looked like a sole.

    2012, Alain Mabanckou, Black Bazaar, →ISBN
    3 more examples

    Such sentences explicitly state that something both has taken place and will take place; they are silent about what Bruce and Wayne are doing hic-et-nunc.

    1995, Andrew L. Sihler, New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin

    Perhaps, then, it is wiser, more "realistic," and more fruitful first to examine religion not in relation to a group of individuals but in relation to each one of those individuals, hic et nunc, not on a collective level but on a concrete, personal, and above all psychological level.

    2000, Jean Bottéro, Clarisse Herrenschmidt, Jean-Pierre Vernant, Ancestor of the West, →ISBN, page 51

    But what, more precisely, distinguishes such an actual perception from a solely possible perception if not its accomplishment hic et nunc?

    2015, Burt Hopkins, Steven Crowell, The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, →ISBN
adjectivehic et nunc (not comparable)

alternative hic-et-nunc

  1. not comparableHappening here and now, occurring in the immediate present.

    Psychology is the study of behavior which transcends (goes beyond) the given, the initially hic et nunc.

    2012, A. Fried, Joseph Agassi, Psychiatry as Medicine: Contemporary Psychotherapies, →ISBN, page 144
    1 more example

    Alice IS WRITING a letter, The tenor IS STRANGLING the soprano, Leigh IS TAKING a shower are examples of genuine hic-et-nunc events.

    1995, Andrew L. Sihler, New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin
nounhic et nunc (uncountable)

alternative hic-et-nunc

  1. uncountableThe here and now, the immediate present.

    1980, Alexandre Kojeve, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phemenology of Spirit The hic et nunc, represented by a point on this line, is determined, fixed, and defined by the past which, through it, determines the future as well.

    1 more example

    "I draw every day, mostly what is around me -- not just the places and the people, but the sounds of them...the light on them," he explains. “Something about the hic et nunc (here and now)—by that, I mean I have the feeling that drawing is helping me to understand the unique world around me, always changing. “I design posters for people whose work I admire,” he continues.

    2012, John Foster, New Masters of Poster Design, Volume 2, →ISBN

Origin

  1. Latinhic et nunc“here and now”
  2. Englishhic et nunc

From Latin hic et nunc (“here and now”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish tässä ja nyt
  • tässä ja nytTranslations
French ici et maintenant
  • ici et maintenantTranslations
Italian qui ed ora
  • qui ed oraTranslations
Polish tu i teraz
  • tu i terazTranslations
Spanish aquí y ahora
  • aquí y ahoraTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

hic et nunc. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hic%20et%20nunc

MLA

“hic et nunc.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hic%20et%20nunc. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hic et nunc,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hic%20et%20nunc.

Source: hic et nunc on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.