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I'm looking for a noun that would represent the state of being up to date.

I want to say this

The documentation is not accurate and up to date.

like this

The documentation has problems with accuracy and __.

Various on-line dictionaries say up-to-dateness but that is kind of clumsy. Are there any alternatives?

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  • This is a difficult one to put across in one word, but if I were determined I would go for 'timeliness'. Though beware, that predominantly means being on time in relation to appearing somewhere.
    – Nieszka
    Jun 27, 2012 at 12:52
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    Regardless of whether such a word exists or not, using such abstract nouns is a considered poor style and is harder to read. Maybe you are in a situation where you can't avoid using a noun, but if you can (such as in your example sentence), please avoid it.
    – rumtscho
    Jun 27, 2012 at 12:54
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    I am surprised nobody has mentioned gerunds yet. Being up-to-date.
    – RegDwigнt
    Jun 27, 2012 at 13:00
  • I think there are two different properties that are being talked about here. Up-to-date documentation might nonetheless be inaccurate; documentation might be accurate but not up-to-date. I think the revised version of James McLeod's is best.
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Jun 27, 2012 at 19:04

7 Answers 7

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Change it to emphasize the negative:

The document is inaccurate and out of date.

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    On reflection, I prefer "The document is neither accurate nor up-to-date" to what I suggested originally - it's a little more emphatic.
    – James McLeod
    Jun 27, 2012 at 14:42
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I would use current. Like so:

The document is neither current nor accurate, which caused me a lot of trouble.

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8

You could say "currency". "The document has problems with accuracy and currency." This would be technically correct, but it's a slightly uncommon use of the word "currency", just enough that readers might be confused by it.

I think it would be more clear to say, "The document is not accurate nor current," or "There have been problems with keeping the document accurate and current."

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2
  • Is "not accurate nor current" an acceptable usage or should it be "neither accurate nor current"?
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Jun 27, 2012 at 20:22
  • "... not ... nor" is valid, but it is indeed more common and probably preferable to say "neither ... nor".
    – Jay
    Jun 28, 2012 at 13:50
1

You could try modernity, currency, recentness, or contemporaneousness.

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    Aren't these more related to meeting current standards and trends? What I'm trying to say is, that the documentation reflects reality and new features are not missing.
    – David Štula
    Jun 27, 2012 at 13:01
  • Isn't possesion of latest feaures covered by 'current'? The noun form of current is 'currency'. To be honest, I think your problem is largely self-inflicted by insisting on using a noun. Is there a reason for avoiding adjectives? Those bad boys are designed for describing objects such as documents...
    – Roaring Fish
    Jun 27, 2012 at 13:11
  • I completely agree, adjectives are certainly better. However, I asked because I'm curious if there is such a word. Currency sounds good.
    – David Štula
    Jun 27, 2012 at 13:24
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Contemporaneity and maintenance would both work in your sentence.

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-1

Currentness may be the best option because the word "currency" is more commonly understood to mean "money or a monetary system," as Jay pointed out.

I don't believe recency a word, but even if it were, it would only mean "the state of being recent" which is not the same as "the state of being current"

This dictionary.com entry convinced me "currentness" is the best fit: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/currentness

Correct meaning with little ambiguity. Works for me.

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-1

Relevancy might also work?

i.e. "The documentation has problems with accuracy and relevancy."

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