time stream
History's forward current
The time stream is the continuous flow of time conceived as a current or river—events moving from past through present toward future.
The term appears most often in science fiction, where characters might travel through the time stream, alter it, or create ripples in it: Changing the past could disrupt the entire time stream.
The metaphor treats time as something that flows in one direction and can potentially be navigated or disturbed.
- chronologyTemporal ordering of events
- epochDistinct historical period
- futureTime still to come
- presentGift or current moment
- elapseOf duration, to pass
timeline · era · continuum · fourth dimension · past · duration · temporal · chronicle · paradox · grandfather paradox · causality · eons · infinity · millennia · alternate timelines · centuries · history · decades