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I'm describing a software design in a proposal document of mine, and I want to express my intention of the design being up-to-date, taking into consideration existing publications and available examples in its field. But I want to make this distinct from being novel, i.e. going even beyond what's been proposed or presented in other work. My best choice of term so far is "up to date". In Hebrew there's the construct עדכני which is also literally "up to date", but has an additional shade of meaning making it better suitable for my need; and there's a corresponding noun, עדכנות.

I would like a better word in English, especially in noun form but also for the adjective.

Notes:

  • If you don't speak Hebrew, ignore what I said about the Hebrew word, a suggestion just having to do with English is fine.
  • Being up-to-date is not binary, i.e. you can be partially up-to-date, or more, or less, up-to-date. I need that semantic aspect.
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  • What is the additional shade of meaning which the Hebrew terms have?
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 14:36
  • @AndrewLeach: In Hebrew you have מעודכן and עדכני; the latter implies something more active, and is also more of a word in itself rather than a hyphenated construct - even though it's the result of combining עד with כאן ("up-to/until" and "here" respectively). It also weakly implies fashionability. And there's more to it I suppose. But never mind the Hebrew.
    – einpoklum
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 14:41
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    No, the Hebrew is important, because you have said that's the best choice so far, so in order to come up with an English equivalent it's of crucial importance to get everything possible about the nuances of the Hebrew. (Agreed, the word itself isn't important, but what it means and why it's a good fit for you is.)
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 14:43
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    What about "current" and "currency"?
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 14:55
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    How about cutting edge or state of the art? Frankly, I despise those clichés, but they seem to approximate the intended meaning. (Hyphenate when using either as an attributive adjective, of course.)
    – Brian Donovan
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 15:08

2 Answers 2

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What about current, contemporary, or even just modern? There are also more marketing-like terms which you could consider: "best-practice", "best-of-breed", etc.

The design is current, employing contemporary design techniques and a modern approach.

Nouns may sound awkward in certain cases, so I'd avoid their use. They'll likely be used in the passive voice too, which isn't great either. Here are some suggestions, nonetheless:

  • the currency of the design [awkward due to the double meaning]
  • the modernity of the design
  • the ubiquity of the design
  • the pervasiveness of the design
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  • What about the noun form of these?
    – einpoklum
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 19:50
  • I have edited it to add some noun ideas
    – Brad
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 20:03
  • ubiquitous and pervasie are not relevant here. As for "modern", modern things are not necessarily up-to-date, I don't believe that's implied in the word. "current" have more of the right implication, but this would be confused with "transpiring right now", at least in some contexts; and if I write about "the currency of X" it sounds like I'm talking about money. ... I don't now...
    – einpoklum
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 20:16
  • I agree that ubiquitous and pervisive are not entirely the same as up-to-date-ness. I've had this exact problem before, and I couldn't find a better word than currency. In the end I ditched it for the same reason as you -- the other meaning, but I still think it's the best option. Failing that, reword it so you don't need a noun.
    – Brad
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 20:29
  • @einpoklum I agree that Brad’s good notion of “current” sounds close (+1) and if you’d consider a phrase, you could easily get to “up to/meets/exceeds current industry standards” from his answer.
    – Papa Poule
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 23:03
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It might not perfectly capture what you mean, but what about sophisticated (noun: sophistication)?

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    Can you explain why you think that would be a good choice?
    – einpoklum
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 20:41

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