These words are alike in applying to conditions, events or things of the present time. Up-to-date and with it usually mean keeping abreast of recent developments or accurately reflecting the modern world: an up-to-date encyclopaedia, revised thoroughly every year. They can mean being in step with contemporary life, and in this sense are the opposite of old-fashioned: Get with it , be up-to-date , smoke Whacko for that cool taste. But note that up-to-date does not necessarily mean fashionable in the sense of stylish: Though the woman’s suit was hardly a Paris original, it was well-tailored and up-to-date . With it is the more informal of the two terms and is used with less generality: You may be with it in your choice of ties but that doesn’t make you an up-to-date dresser.

Fresh emphasizes originality and the absence of prejudice or preconceived notions: The Prime Minister convened a committee of senior members of the Department of External Affairs to take a fresh look at our policy in South-East Asia. A fresh look may result in the confirmation of old policies: it is nevertheless new , in the sense that the old assumptions and reason have been critically re-examined from a disinterested point of view.

New is the broadest term of this group. It may mean keeping up with the times, being contemporary, and in this sense it is synonymous with up-to-date : a new (or up-to-date ) method of testing to determine vocational aptitudes. Perhaps its most common meaning refers to being recent or original; here it is applied to something just invented, created or developed: a new tin opener, based upon an entirely different mechanical principle; a new book, just published. In this sense the phrase "brand new " is sometimes used to emphasize the recentness of the action referred to, e.g., a brand new pair of shoes refers to a pair of shoes which has just been bought. New is used also as a synonym for fresh in the sense of unprejudiced: a new (or fresh ) approach to the problem of Aboriginal housing and education.

Novel is close to new but stresses the ingenuity and difference that characterize new things. A new idea may be original, but a novel idea is sparkling and ingenious. Novel suggests more originality and creativity than any of the other words here considered, and it is therefore sometimes used with a degree of mistrust or with a suggestion of impracticability.

• It was a novel arrangement, but it just didn’t work; She bought a novel device for slicing onions.

Modernistic means tending to be modern or giving the appearance of being modern in style, as in furniture, architecture or art. It may be used neutrally, but frequently connotes superficiality and sometimes cheapness: a modernistic painting that demonstrates no real understanding of contemporary art. In connotation the word is close to with it; it often suggests the deliberate intention to be modern rather than the simple fact of being modern.