Phrase guide

now or never

adv · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌnaʊ‿ə ˈnɛvə/
  • General-American: /ˌnaʊ‿əɹ ˈnɛvəɹ/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛvə(ɹ)

1

adv

Meaning 1

At this sole opportunity or time, or not at all.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

Qualifier: set phrase

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: сега́ или́ ни́кога (segá ilí níkoga) — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Danish: nu eller aldrig — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Dutch: nu of nooit — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Finnish: nyt tai ei koskaan — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • French: maintenant ou jamais — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • French: le moment ou jamais — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • German: jetzt oder nie — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Hebrew: עכשיו או לעולם (akhshav o l’olam) — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Hungarian: most vagy soha — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Italian: ora o mai più — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Italian: adesso o mai più — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Japanese: 待った無し — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Japanese: 待ったなし — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Japanese: まったなし (matta-nashi) — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nå eller aldri — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: no eller aldri — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Polish: teraz albo nigdy — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Portuguese: agora ou nunca — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Russian: сейча́с и́ли никогда́ (sejčás íli nikogdá) — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Spanish: ahora o nunca — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all
  • Swedish: nu eller aldrig — at this sole opportunity or time, or not at all