hitherto

[ hith-er-too ]

adverb

1. up to this time; until now:

   a fact hitherto unknown.

2. to here.

hitherto

/ ˈhɪðəˈtuː /

adverb

1. until this time

   hitherto, there have been no problems

2. archaic.
   to this place or point

adjective

1. until this time

   a hitherto unoccupied house

Word History and Origins

Origin of hitherto¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English hiderto; hither, to

Example Sentences

The market has also been opened up to foreign vaccine makers, hitherto barred, who can now sell their wares at all sorts of prices to state governments, corporations and individuals.

From Time

With that potential industry power, and that much fan support at its back, HYBE and BTS could well be poised to shape the music industry in ways hitherto unseen.

From Vox

There is nothing quite like a young scientist’s first encounter with an imaging technology that renders the hitherto invisible visible—magnetic resonance imaging took my breath away.

From Nautilus

The conditions of occupation have left Palestinians living in crowded and impoverished areas with a crippled health care system—conditions ripe for community transmission of a virus that has hitherto been unconstrained by any border.

From Popular-Science

As with all exciting new advances, research into quantum computers is traveling hitherto unknown territory.

From Singularity Hub 

With Bruce Wayne out of the picture, Dick Grayson is free to cultivate that hitherto underdeveloped aspect of his abilities.

From The Daily Beast

At the three-hour-mark, the hitherto obliging Lanzmann finally becomes irritated.

From The Daily Beast

Here is a hitherto little-known fact; Prince Charles and his wife Camilla both delivered by the same guy.

From The Daily Beast

Obama's effect on Israel's public debate has been electric, reigniting the hitherto comatose discussion of the West Bank.

From The Daily Beast

Her father attempted to stage an intervention into her drinking, and it was reported that she had a hitherto unknown half-sister.

From The Daily Beast

But hitherto, before these new ideas began to spread in our community, the mass of men and women definitely settled down.

From Project Gutenberg

It has only been a rare and exceptional class hitherto that has gone on learning throughout life.

From Project Gutenberg

The scene and field of that learning hitherto has been, in our Western communities, the University.

From Project Gutenberg

His accumulating doubts hitherto unexpressed, almost unacknowledged even, were now confirmed.

From Project Gutenberg

Then she put her anger from her; put from her, too, the insolence and scorn with which so lavishly she had addressed him hitherto.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• already
• formerly
• heretofore
• long ago
• once
• then