Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects. The temporal position of events with respect to the transitory present is continually changing; events happen, then are located further and further in the past. Time has been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science, but defining it in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars. A simple definition states that "time is what clocks measure".

Time is one of the seven fundamental physical quantities in the International System of Units. Time is used to define other quantities — such as velocity — so defining time in terms of such quantities would result in circularity of definition. An operational definition of time, wherein one says that observing a certain number of repetitions of one or another standard cyclical event (such as the passage of a free-swinging pendulum) constitutes one standard unit such as the second, is highly useful in the conduct of both advanced experiments and everyday affairs of life. The operational definition leaves aside the question whether there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just mentioned, that flows and that can be measured. Investigations of a single continuum called spacetime bring questions about space into questions about time, questions that have their roots in the works of early students of natural philosophy.

Two contrasting viewpoints on time divide many prominent philosophers. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. Sir Isaac Newton subscribed to this realist view, and hence it is sometimes referred to as Newtonian time. Time travel, in this view, becomes a possibility as other "times" persist like frames of a film strip, spread out across the time line. The opposing view is that time does not refer to any kind of "container" that events and objects "move through", nor to any entity that "flows", but that it is instead part of a fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which humans sequence and compare events. This second view, in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, holds that time is neither an event nor a thing, and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be travelled.

Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists, and was a prime motivation in navigation and astronomy. Periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. Examples include the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, the swing of a pendulum, and the beat of a heart. Currently, the international unit of time, the second, is defined in terms of radiation emitted by caesium atoms (see below). Time is also of significant social importance, having economic value ("time is money") as well as personal value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day and in human life spans.

Ray Cummings, an early writer of science fiction, wrote in 1922, "Time... is what keeps everything from happening at once", a sentence repeated by scientists such as C. J. Overbeck, and John Archibald Wheeler.

Adverb

presently (comparative more presently, superlative most presently)

1. (now UK, rare) Immediately, at once; quickly.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1, p. 219:

     the butler supposing the Wine had beene so carefully commended unto him for the goodnesse of it, imediately presented some unto the Pope, who whilest he was drinking, his sonne came in and never imagining his bottles had beene toucht, tooke the cup and pledged his father, so that the Pope died presently; and the sonne, after he had long time beene tormented with sicknesse, recovered to another worse fortune.

2. In the near future; soon.

   Let me finish up one quick thing, and I'll be with you presently.

3. At the present time; now; currently.

   He is presently working on the Henderson account.

   1891, The Welsh Review, No. 1 (November 1891). "A Word to the Welsh People." p. 1.

   To all of you, therefore, who call Wales your motherland, whether you presently inhabit some other portion of the globe or breathe the air of your cloud-kissed country. . . .

• Some older usage guides, especially for UK English, object the sense now, though most major modern dictionaries do not.

• Alternative Systems (6)
• Clocks and Watches (6)
• Current Time (26)

• Horology (20)
• ISO 8601@ (44)
• Network Time Protocol@ (19)

• Kids: School Time: Science: Astronomy and Space: Time (21)
• Science: Astronomy: Amateur: Sky Calendars (11)
• Science: Astronomy: Calendars and Timekeeping (49)
• Science: Earth Sciences: Geology: Geochronology (10)
• Science: Physics: Relativity: Time Travel (16)
• Society: History: Timelines (48)
• Society: Philosophy: Philosophy of Science: Physics: Time and Timelessness (12)

• This Day In History
  history.com
  Today in history every day - often with pictures and sound.
• Time FAQ
  faqs.org
  Frequently Asked Questions about time (from sci.astro news group)
• Infoplease: Daylight Saving Time
  infoplease.com
  Information and history about Daylight Saving Time all over the world.