For the time being vs. "for now"?

Question

Consider the following passages:> A litter made of two rifles and two field jackets would suffice **for now**. That was good news; another bit was that the EPW was a lieutenant, a regimental REMF attached to a battalion quartered in town. *--Rangers Lead the Way By Thomas H. Taylor, Robert J. Martin*> He had a couple of thousand dollars on him that would suffice **for the time being**, until he could find some kind of legal employment. He got out ofthe car, and walked a block. *--The Maze By Kahn Morris*Now, how are these expressions different? Could we use them interchangeably? Oxford Dictionary of English has the following definitions for them,> **for now** until a later time: that's all the news there is for now; > **for the time being** for the present; until some other arrangement is made.

Answer 1

Actually, I can substitute either 'for the time being' or 'for now' in each given example, so both phrases are acceptable in the context of what you have written.

Answer 2

"for the time being" carries a connotation sort of threatening to whatever it is

so if something is "alright for the time being" that carries a little more weight in that it needs to change sooner rather than later but it will be ok at this moment

"for now" is a little more neutral in it's connotation.

This is not in a dictionary anywhere but I am using my experience as an ESL teacher to think about how I've heard them used and used them.

Does that make sense?

Answer 3

Really, although the definitions vary slightly, I think that essentially these terms are interchangeable. This is an opinion.