past

[ past ]

/ pæst /

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See synonyms for past on Thesaurus.com

adjective

gone by or elapsed in time: It was a bad time, but it's all past now.

of, having existed in, or having occurred during a time previous to the present; bygone: the past glories of the Incas.

gone by just before the present time; just passed: during the past year.

ago: six days past.

having formerly been or served as; previous; earlier: three past presidents of the club.

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

noun

the time gone by: He could remember events far back in the past.

the history of a person, nation, etc.: our country's glorious past.

what has existed or has happened at some earlier time: Try to forget the past, now that your troubles are over.

the events, phenomena, conditions, etc., that characterized an earlier historical period: That hat is something out of the past.

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.

Grammar. past tense.

adverb

so as to pass by or beyond; by: The troops marched past.

preposition

beyond in time; later than; after: past noon;half past six.

beyond in space or position; farther on than: the house just past the church.

in a direction so as to pass by or go beyond: We went past the house by mistake.

beyond in amount, number, etc.: past the maximum age for enlisting in the army.

beyond the reach, scope, influence, or power of: He is past hope of recovery.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of past

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

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH past

passed, past , paste

Words nearby past

pass up, passus, pass with flying colors, password, Passy, past, pasta, past continuous, paste, pasteboard, pastedown

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use past in a sentence

Tools built on machine learning can decode and learn from trends, suggest actions based on history and past experiences, and provide accurate analytics to help you develop strategies and take actions that yield.
Five ways to use machine learning in digital marketing|Birbahadur Kathayat|February 12, 2021|Search Engine Watch
If your rankings changed in the past 24-hours or so, it might be related to this change.
Google passage ranking now live in US English search results|Barry Schwartz|February 11, 2021|Search Engine Land
Perhaps the NFL can begin to address its segregated past by naming players who were kept out of the league because of their skin color, such as Kenny Washington, to the Hall of Fame.
Kenny Washington’s time has come. NFL needs to recognize the man who broke the color barrier.|Fred Bowen|February 10, 2021|Washington Post
The institute provided “detailed descriptions of the center’s research both present and past on all projects involving bats and coronaviruses and more advanced projects,” Embarek said.
WHO team in Wuhan dismisses lab leak theory, continues hunt for intermediary coronavirus host|Gerry Shih|February 9, 2021|Washington Post

Even though his bus route took him past closed and boarded-up businesses every day, he finally recognized the magnitude of the loss that had been accumulating all around him.
‘Oh, we’re still in this.’ The pandemic wall is here.|Maura Judkis|February 9, 2021|Washington Post
In their past calls for attacks on Western targets, AQAP has focused on putting bombs on planes, not revenge attacks.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre|Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In the middle of all of that past suffering and present-day conflict, this Cosby bomb was dropped.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers|Stereo Williams|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I gotta say—I think this past year was pretty bad for music.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Many of those who have become cops in New York seem to have ceased to address such minor offenses over the past few days.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
RELATED: NYPD Salutes Murdered Officer Wenjian Liu (Photos) Police motorcycles rumbled past.
Funeral Protest Is Too Much for NYPD Union Boss|Michael Daly|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Truth is a torch, but one of enormous size; so that we slink past it in rather a blinking fashion for fear it should burn us.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
Within the past thirty years civilization has rapidly taken possession of this lovely region.
Among the Sioux|R. J. Creswell
Without the former quality, knowledge of the past is uninstructive; without the latter, it is deceptive.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
And I finished all with a brief historical account of affairs and events in England for about a hundred years past.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
Venice is a City of the Past, and wears her faded yet queenly robes more gracefully by night than by day.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley

British Dictionary definitions for past

past

/ (pɑːst) /

adjective

completed, finished, and no longer in existencepast happiness

denoting or belonging to all or a segment of the time that has elapsed at the present momentthe past history of the world

denoting a specific unit of time that immediately precedes the present onethe past month

(prenominal) denoting a person who has held and relinquished an office or position; formera past president

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 utteranceCompare aorist, imperfect (def. 4), perfect (def. 8)

noun

the past the period of time or a segment of it that has elapsedforget the past

the history, experience, or background of a nation, person, etca soldier with a distinguished past

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

grammar

a past tense
a verb in a past tense

adverb

at a specified or unspecified time before the present; agothree years past

on or onwardsI greeted him but he just walked past

preposition

beyond in timeit's past midnight

beyond in place or positionthe library is past the church

moving beyond; in a direction that passeshe walked past me

beyond or above the reach, limit, or scope ofhis foolishness is past comprehension

beyond or above in number or amountto count past ten

past it informal unable to perform the tasks one could do when one was younger

not put it past someone to consider someone capable of (the action specified)

Word Origin for past

C14: from passed, past participle of pass

usage for past

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with past

past

In addition to the idioms beginning with past

past master
past one's prime

also see:

live in (the past)
not put something past someone

past

Origin of past

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH past

Words nearby past

Words related to past

How to use past in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for past

Word Origin for past

usage for past

Other Idioms and Phrases with past