past

[ past ]
See synonyms for past on Thesaurus.com
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.

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

  2. ago: six days past.

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

  4. 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.

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

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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

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

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

Origin of past

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Middle English, variant spelling of passed, past participle of pass

Words that may be confused with past

Words Nearby past

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use past in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for past

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

  1. denoting a specific unit of time that immediately precedes the present one: the past month

  2. (prenominal) denoting a person who has held and relinquished an office or position; former: a past president

  3. 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 (def. 4), perfect (def. 8)

noun
  1. the past 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

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

  2. grammar

    • a past tense

    • a verb in a past tense

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

preposition
  1. beyond in time: it's past midnight

  2. beyond in place or position: the library is past the church

  1. moving beyond; in a direction that passes: he walked past me

  2. beyond or above the reach, limit, or scope of: his foolishness is past comprehension

  3. beyond or above in number or amount: to count past ten

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

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

Origin of past

1
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

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.