... between 'ubiquitous' and 'omnipresent'?

"ubiquitous" is something that goes everywhere. "omnipresent" is something that exists everywhere.

I think they're virtually interchangeable in all cases but. ubiquitous is often *defined as omnipresent but. ubiquitous is about 3 times as prevalent, per google.

The one has root meaning "to go", the other is from verb "to be."

"Ubique" is used above the coat of arms of the Royal Artillery and was intended as a boast that they went everywhere. Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem, it's a bit long but some of the references are interesting :

UBIQUE
by
Rudyard Kipling

There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may -
'You bike,' 'you bikwe,' 'ubbikwe' - alludin' to R.A.
It serves 'Orse, Field, an' Garrison as motto for a crest,
An' when you've found out all it means I'll tell you 'alf the rest.


Ubique means the long-range Krupp be'ind the low-range 'ill -
Ubique means you'll pick it up an', while you do stand, still.
Ubique means you've caught the flash an' timed it by the sound.
Ubique means five gunners' 'ash before you've loosed a round.


Ubique means Blue Fuse, an' make the 'ole to sink the trail.
Ubique means stand up an' take the Mauser's 'alf-mile 'ail.
Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can 'old.
Ubique means that 'orse's scream which turns your innards cold.


Ubique means 'Bank, 'Olborn, Bank - a penny all the way -
The soothin' jingle-bump-an'-clank from day to peaceful day.
Ubique means 'They've caught De Wet, an' now we sha'n't be long.'
Ubique means 'I much regret, the beggar's going strong!'


Ubique means the tearin' drift where, breech-blocks jammed with mud,
The khaki muzzles duck an' lift across the khaki flood.
Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers.
Ubique means the mirage again an' shellin' all outdoors.


Ubique means 'Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein'!
Ubique means 'Off-load your guns' - at midnight in the rain!
Ubique means 'More mounted men. Return all guns to store.'
Ubique means the R.A.M.R. Infantillery Corps!


Ubique means the warnin' grunt the perished linesman knows,
When o'er 'is strung an' sufferin' front the shrapnel sprays 'is foes,
An' as their firin' dies away the 'usky whisper runs
From lips that 'aven't drunk all day: 'The Guns! Thank Gawd, the Guns!'


Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any'ow,
From Colesberg Kop to Quagga's Poort - from Ninety-Nine till now -
By what I've 'eard the others tell an' I in spots 'ave seen,
There's nothin' this side 'Eaven or 'Ell Ubique doesn't mean!

A difference in sense perhaps, rather than meaning. Ubiquitous is often used of things that are everywhere, even when the person using "ubiquitous" wishes it otherwise. "Omnipresent" seems to be used most often referring to manifestations of divinity/spirituality and the like.

My dictionary doesn't show much difference between the two but the way I interpret it is:
Omnipresent - Something that is, or believed to be, everywhere at once.
Ubiquitous - Something that appears to be everywhere at once, i.e: more of a metaphor. Rather like the word zelig, that describes a person who appears to be everywhwere at once.

I think our little german shepherd is very near to it.
To me, these nearly synonymous words are differentiated - just about - by "ubiquitous " meaning something that might appear anywhere, whilst "omnipresent" is something that does appear everywhere.

Yes, I agree.

"Ubiquitous" is a clumsy word for "everywhere" or "seems everywhere". However, the damn word, as they say, has legs. That gol~awful guttural word has been a J-jive word for journalists for a several years now. They think it cool and smart.

"Omnipresent" has come to mean a "presence everywhere", and the word usually refers to God or some arcane invention of philosophy, and as such, it should be left that way.

Many busybodies approach being ubiquitous but they fortunately cannot be omnipresent.

I find it very cool that we have our virtual usage panel® here for the using.

Police may well be ubiquitous - vice is omnipresent

Sorry to bring this back after so long, but I've just read it, and cannot refrain from commenting. U. & o. may be frequently used interchangeably, but IMHO they shouldn't be; certainly not in all cases. I agree with the go/be folks. Wsieber gave one good example of how they are different. Here's another ex.: my concern about my weight is omnipresent; it is not ubiquitous. I hope that eating only things that are good for me will soon be ubiquitous; but they will not be omnipresent, because I do not eat every minute of the day. Another: our city buses used to have ads that read "TARC {Transit Authority of River City} is ubiquitous". I'll grant them that they were, for the sake of argument. But they were not omnipresent: you could not see one 100% of the time you looked for one.

Both words are inherently exaggerative. Nothing can really go everywhere , or be everywhere
st the same time.I hesitate to say that space could meet the definitions.

I might say that beer bottles are ubiquitous in the student ghetto where I have the misfortune to live (but it's cheap and I love my little flat! just the neighbours are a drag) - in which case, I would mean that just about anywhere you cast your eye, you'd be likely to see at least one beer bottle within your range of vision. I would never say that beer bottles were omnipresent in the student ghetto: how would anyone move, what would we breathe?!

To me, regardless of definitions (I haven't even looked each word up), ubiquitous means unusually common (if that ain't too oxymoronic!) - something you can expect to see/encounter frequently; omnipresent means all-present. Air is, I think, the only "thing" that is omnipresent on Earth (obviously it's not in space, but), but I think of God as omnipresent. On His bad days, I reckon He probably thinks of people as ubiquitous.

Ubiquitous - Something that appears to be everywhere at once

…Coenzyme Q advertised now as an anti-ageing compound, for example, in Nivea Q10 lotion is known as ubiquinone because it is ubiquitous in biological systems

Biochemistry by L.Stryer

I don't think the etymologies of the words support the go vs. be distinction. Neither word has a root -- like -cur or -cede -- that suggests "going." Literally, 'ubique' means "anywhere," while 'omnipresent' means "everywhere."

It is actually the suffix -ous in 'ubiquitous' that adds the notion of "seeming to be." Thus, something that is ubiquitous seems to be anywhere you look, while something that is omnipresent is everywhere, regardless of whether it seems that way to you.

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