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I wasn't sure I had ever used/heard the word recency before but, when trying to come up for a word to describe proximity in time, it popped into my head. It's in the Merriam-Webster dictionary so I must have come across it somewhere before. They do not list a synonym. Is anyone aware of one?

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Yesterday? –  JLG May 17 '12 at 13:24
Thanks for all your suggestions! I have +1'd several that I found helpful - In the end, I think I just have to become comfortable with its use in the future. I find that @Kris suggestion of "temporal proximity" might also be an appropriate alternative for my specific context. Cheers –  Marc in the box May 18 '12 at 8:05
.....huh. I could have sworn there was a word like this (other than "recency" itself), but I can't think of any. –  Kyle Strand Feb 7 at 21:38

4 Answers 4

up vote 5 down vote accepted

As far as recency is concerned, recentness appears to be the only synonym available.

However, from what I understand from your question, temporal proximity is what fits your need best.

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Um, assuming that those needs don't include "not sounding like Spock." –  Kyle Strand Feb 7 at 21:36

There are some synonyms, but the choice of which one to use depends on context.

  • Novelty
  • Freshness
  • Youth

If you want to describe the state of having just happened, recency is your best bet, barring other forms of the same word (recentness and, even more rarely, recentity).

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Here are a few not mentioned yet:

  • newness, modernness
  • presence (which implies spatial proximity, too)
  • contemporaneity
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There are a whole lot of synonyms for recent, so it is not hard to make a noun out of one of them. The following may fit:

  • currentness
  • contemporariness
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