Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for past

past

[past]

adjective

  1. gone by or elapsed in time.

    It was a bad time, but it's all past now.

  2. of, having existed in, or having occurred during a time previous to the present; bygone.

    the past glories of the Incas.

  3. gone by just before the present time; just passed.

    during the past year.

  4. ago.

    six days past.

  5. having formerly been or served as; previous; earlier.

    three past presidents of the club.

  6. Grammar.,  designating a tense, or other verb formation or construction, that refers to events or states in time gone by.



noun

  1. the time gone by.

    He could remember events far back in the past.

  2. the history of a person, nation, etc..

    our country's glorious past.

  3. what has existed or has happened at some earlier time.

    Try to forget the past, now that your troubles are over.

  4. the events, phenomena, conditions, etc., that characterized an earlier historical period.

    That hat is something out of the past.

  5. an earlier period of a person's life, career, etc., that is thought to be of a shameful or embarrassing nature.

    When he left prison, he put his past behind him.

  6. Grammar.,  past tense.

adverb

  1. so as to pass by or beyond; by.

    The troops marched past.

preposition

  1. beyond in time; later than; after.

    past noon;

    half past six.

  2. beyond in space or position; farther on than.

    the house just past the church.

  3. in a direction so as to pass by or go beyond.

    We went past the house by mistake.

  4. beyond in amount, number, etc..

    past the maximum age for enlisting in the army.

  5. beyond the reach, scope, influence, or power of.

    He is past hope of recovery.

past

/ pɑːst /

adjective

  1. completed, finished, and no longer in existence

    past happiness

  2. denoting or belonging to all or a segment of the time that has elapsed at the present moment

    the past history of the world

  3. denoting a specific unit of time that immediately precedes the present one

    the past month

  4. (prenominal) denoting a person who has held and relinquished an office or position; former

    a past president

  5. grammar denoting any of various tenses of verbs that are used in describing actions, events, or states that have been begun or completed at the time of utterance Compare aorist imperfect perfect

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the period of time or a segment of it that has elapsed

    forget the past

  2. the history, experience, or background of a nation, person, etc

    a soldier with a distinguished past

  3. an earlier period of someone's life, esp one that contains events kept secret or regarded as disreputable

  4. grammar

    1. a past tense

    2. a verb in a past tense

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. at a specified or unspecified time before the present; ago

    three years past

  2. on or onwards

    I greeted him but he just walked past

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

preposition

  1. beyond in time

    it's past midnight

  2. beyond in place or position

    the library is past the church

  3. moving beyond; in a direction that passes

    he walked past me

  4. beyond or above the reach, limit, or scope of

    his foolishness is past comprehension

  5. beyond or above in number or amount

    to count past ten

  6. informal,  unable to perform the tasks one could do when one was younger

  7. to consider someone capable of (the action specified)

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Usage

The past participle of pass is sometimes wrongly spelt past: the time for recriminations has passed (not past )
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of past1

First recorded in 1250–1300; from Middle English, variant spelling of passed, past participle of pass
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of past1

C14: from passed, past participle of pass
Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Attendance at this year’s conference, which is expected to total more than 1,000 people, is lower than in past years, he said.

Twelve acts were nominated for the 2025 award, which rewards the best British or Irish album of the past 12 months.

Read more on Barron's

She claimed that she had seen one son for only “45 min in the past 5 years” and that the other has visited only four times since 2021.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

While EA says the mass-combat game has won over 100 million players in the past two decades, "Battlefield" lost ground to "Call of Duty" over the years.

Read more on Barron's

Kenvue has said in the past it has studied the science and hasn’t found any causal link between the use of Tylenol in pregnancy and autism.

Read more on Barron's

Advertisement

Related Words

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Passypasta