current Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a flow of electricity through a conductor
    electric current.
    • the current was measured in amperes
  2. noun a steady flow of a fluid (usually from natural causes)
    stream.
    • the raft floated downstream on the current
    • he felt a stream of air
    • the hose ejected a stream of water
  3. noun dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas
    flow; stream.
    • two streams of development run through American history
    • stream of consciousness
    • the flow of thought
    • the current of history
  4. adjective occurring in or belonging to the present time
    • current events
    • the current topic
    • current negotiations
    • current psychoanalytic theories
    • the ship's current position

WordNet

Cur"rent adjective
Etymology
OE. currant, OF. curant, corant, p. pr. of curre, corre, F. courre, courir, to run, from L. currere; perh. akin to E. horse. Cf. Course, Concur, Courant, Coranto.
Definitions
  1. Running or moving rapidly. Archaic
    Like the current fire, that renneth Upon a cord. Gower.
    To chase a creature that was current then In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns. Tennyson.
  2. Now passing, as time; as, the current month.
  3. Passing from person to person, or from hand to hand; circulating through the community; generally received; common; as, a current coin; a current report; current history.
    That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt. Arbuthnot.
    Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current. Shak.
    His current value, which is less or more as men have occasion for him. Grew.
  4. Commonly estimated or acknowledged.
  5. Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic; passable.
    O Buckingham, now do I play the touch To try if thou be current gold indeed. Shak.
    Abbott.
Cur"rent noun
Etymology
Cf. F. courant. See Current, a.
Definitions
  1. A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion; as, a current of electricity.
    Two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bound them in. Shak.
    The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents, whose direction . . . the navigator should know. Nichol.
  2. General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of opinion, etc. Syn. -- Stream; course. See Stream.

Webster 1913