5439
I heard this sentence pattern watching an anime (where A and B have similar
meanings, but B is much stronger):

> ．．．．[description A] いや、もはや [description B]と言っていい。

I looked up `もはや` expecting a definition like "rather", as in "it was [A], or
rather, it was [B]". Instead I found "already, now", as in "He is no longer a
child" `もはや子供ではない。`

I looked around and that's the only definition I've found...however, I did see
that on
[goo](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/all/%E3%82%82%E3%81%AF%E3%82%84/m0u/)
it did say `まさに` was a word for it, which means "exactly". I'm guessing that
would make this mean "[A], or more exactly [B]". Can someone confirm this?
This wasn't a secondary entry in the definition, just a line in the first,
"already" definition, but it seems to me a very different usage. Can someone
clarify this for me?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-06T18:31:52.550
5438
2012-05-06T21:03:39.007
921
question
words syntax
Can もはや also mean "or rather" or "actually"?
As ジョン says, the similarities are very strong between もはや and もう.

The meaning is that something has now reached a certain state, leaving its
past state behind. This can imply that the change is irreversible.

彼はもはや犯罪者だ。 He's a criminal now. (he's now reached that point, and there is no
turning back from it.)

彼はもう社長です。 He's a company president now. (cast away any thoughts you might have
had of him as a lower-paid employee -- that is no longer true)

もはやXと言っていい means that it is, **by now** , OK to call it X (probably: there's
now enough evidence/reason to support the statement), and this is the new
irreversible state -- we're casting off the old state of not calling it X.

This corresponds to 大辞泉's second sense of もはや:

> ２ ある事態が **変えられないところ** まで進んでいるさま。今となっては。もう。「―如何ともしがたい」「―これまで」

I don't see any context/reason to interpret it as "actually" or "or rather".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-06T21:03:39.007
5439
2012-05-06T21:03:39.007
315
5438
answer