First recorded in 1825–35
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Neither were most of them hurting for attention, which is probably why my brain connected those long-ago irritants with this present one.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
As they read your long-ago emails and memos, you want your years of hard work, passion and loyalty to your employer to jump off the page.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
Thater and Govan both recall a long-ago discussion about Thater’s love of Zumthor’s work, and his use of concrete in Austria’s Kunsthaus Bregenz contemporary art museum.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Cavalcanti’s, no less brilliant in its execution, looks through the glass darkly, with painful scenes of long-ago squalor and depravity that sadly echo our own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
It’s hard—I have nystagmus, the result of a long-ago concussion.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
The Walkman disappeared long ago, but the sturdy, blue 1985 Toyota 4x4 pickup truck can still be found in the Texas Hill Country at Jeff Kent’s 3,000-acre ranch on the outskirts of San Antonio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
We can observe galaxies beyond the Hubble distance because the light reaching us today was emitted long ago, when those galaxies were much closer.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
Seattleites, however, can attest that Burning Man’s ruin began long ago, pretty much since Microsofties and Amazonians invaded it in the early aughts.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
Not long ago, the artificial intelligence boom lifted pretty much any stock with a story to tell about serving electricity to data centers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
She referred softly to the fact that her uncles had long ago stolen the deed to the estate.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
