n.

The present day, time, or age: “Today's shocks are tomorrow's conventions” (Carolyn Heilbrun).

adv.

1. During or on the present day.
2. During or at the present time.

adj.

Concerned with or relating to the present time: today issues; the today generation.

[Middle English to dai, from Old English tō dæge : tō, to; see to + dæge, dative of dæg, day.]

Today (1913), a play by George Broadhurst and Abraham S. Schomer. [48th Street Theatre, 280 perf.] When Frederick Wagner (Edwin Arden) fails in business, his spoiled, spendthrift wife, Lily (Emily Stevens), cannot accept the fact that she must give up the luxuries she has enjoyed. To ensure that she need not, Lily secretly goes to work in a fashionable brothel. Her husband has become the agent for the landlord who owns the building in which the brothel is located, and when he arrives there on a professional visit he discovers his wife's wiles. A confrontation follows, after which he leaves her. While many critics agreed with Adolph Klauber of the Times, who dismissed the work as “an indecent, vicious play,” enough of the playgoing public was titillated to turn the work into a major success.

noun

The current time: now, nowadays, present¹. See time.

adverb

At the present; these days: now, nowadays. See time.

In 1952, no network television programming was scheduled earlier than 10:00 A.M. (EST). NBC president Sylvester "Pat" Weaver created Today with the idea that people might watch TV early in the morning before going to work and sending their children off to school. The two-hour show, running from 7:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M. (EST), was designed to unfold in small modular segments, with the expectation that few viewers would watch from beginning to end. News, interviews, feature stories, and weather were combined in an informal style by friendly hosts. Today went on the air on 14 January 1952 and has remained there with relatively minor changes ever since. It was not until 1954 that another network, CBS, scheduled a program, The Morning Show, in the same time slot, and it was not until the 1970s, when Good Morning, America was introduced on ABC, that any program challenged the ratings dominance of Today. Fifty years after the beginning of Today, all early morning network shows were essentially copies of it. Today replaced the daily newspaper as a first source of information for millions of Americans at the start of each day, providing news and weather reports as well as discussions of books, trends, and other cultural and domestic topics.

From 1952 to 1961, the Today team included Dave Garroway, Betsy Palmer, Jack Lescoulie, Frank Blair, and for a few years of comic relief, a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs. In 1961, the news department at NBC took over production of the show, and the lead host position went successively to John Chancellor (1961–1962), Hugh Downs (1962–1971), and Frank McGee (1971–1974). Barbara Walters became the first woman to co-host the show, which she did from 1974 to 1976. Walters was paired with a series of co-hosts until Jim Hartz got the permanent job. In 1976, Walters and Hartz were replaced by Tom Brokaw (1976–1981) and Jane Pauley (1976–1989). Subsequent hosts included Bryant Gumbel (1982–1997), Deborah Norville (1989–1991), Katie Couric (1991–), and Matt Lauer (1997–).

Bibliography

Kessler, Judy. Inside Today: The Battle for the Morning. New York: Villard, 1992.

Metz, Robert. The Today Show: An Inside Look at Twenty-five Tumultuous Years. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1977.

IN BRIEF: n. - The day that includes the present moment (as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow); The present time or age.

Today is the only real day of life for us. — William Jordan, Source: The Power of Purpose, p. 47.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of today

• todya

Dansk (Danish)
adv. - i dag, i vore dage, den dag i dag
n. - vore dage, nutiden
adj. - vore dages, nutids-

Nederlands (Dutch)
vandaag, tegenwoordig

Français (French)
adv. - aujourd'hui, actuellement
n. - aujourd'hui, de nos jours
adj. - d'aujourd'hui, de nos jours

Deutsch (German)
n. - Heute, Gegenwart
adv. - heute, heutzutage
adj. - heutig

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σήμερα, η σημερινή ημέρα, η σημερινή εποχή
adv. - σήμερα, τώρα

Italiano (Italian)
oggi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - o dia de hoje (m)
adv. - hoje

Русский (Russian)
сегодня, сейчас, в наше время

Español (Spanish)
adv. - hoy, actualmente, hoy en día
n. - el día de hoy, la actualidad
adj. - actualmente

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - dagen, denna dag
adv. - idag, nu för tiden

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
今天, 当今, 现在, 现在的, 当今的

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adv. - 今天, 當今
n. - 今天, 現在, 當今
adj. - 現在的, 當今的

한국어 (Korean)
adv. - 오늘 중에, 현재는
n. - 오늘 , 현대, 현재
adj. - 오늘날에는, 현대에는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 現代
adv. - 今日, 現在

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أليوم أو ألوقت ألحاضر, في هذه ألأيام (ظرف) أليوم‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adv. - ‮היום, במהלך היום, בימינו‬
n. - ‮היום, התקופה המודרנית‬
adj. - ‮של התקופה הנוכחית‬

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blooms today	today newspaper
scotland today	usa today