recent
adjective
of late occurrence, appearance, or origin; lately happening, done, made, etc..
recent
American
[ree-suhnt]
/ ˈri sənt /
adjective
-
of late occurrence, appearance, or origin; lately happening, done, made, etc..
recent events; a recent trip.
-
not long past.
in recent years.
-
of or belonging to a time not long past.
-
Geology. Recent. noting or pertaining to the present epoch, originating at the end of the glacial period, about 10,000 years ago, and forming the latter half of the Quaternary Period; Holocene.
noun
recent
1
British
/ ˈriːsənt /
adjective
Recent
2
British
/ ˈriːsənt /
adjective
Recent
Scientific
/ rē′sənt /
Synonym Usage
See modern.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of recent
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin recent- (stem of recēns ) “fresh, new”
Explanation
If something is recent, it happened in the immediate past or not long ago. You are a recent fan of yoga if you just started liking it in the past week or two. If you talk about something that happened in recent months or years, it means the last one to three months or years. Otherwise, recent means new or just happened. It’s particularly useful when you don’t know exactly when something happened, but you know it wasn’t long ago. Perhaps you have been a recent guest star on a show, and your recent movies have been very successful. You know it wasn’t long ago at all and you are still a star!
Vocabulary lists containing recent
"Magic Island," Vocabulary from the poem
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Workshop 5, Part 1
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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.
See Examples For:
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in a recent interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
On the promenade itself, views mostly ran pro-park one recent day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
At a recent cross-party Senedd group on women's health, gynaecologists said Wales either needed a nationally commissioned service or an overhaul of the funding model to better reflect the true cost of the specialist care.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
In several cases, these past-four-year advances far exceeded the market’s recent return.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
I slipped down low in my seat and began reading and rereading Jemma’s letters, my eyes lingering on her most recent one.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Recent indications have been that the markets would be comfortable with that degree of reduced headroom.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Recent graduate Hibo Hassan, 23, said she was there to show her solidarity.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
Recent evidence suggests that dendritic cells become less effective at efferocytosis in diabetic wounds.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
Recent gains in shares of SpaceX and Tesla have pushed Elon Musk’s net worth back beyond the trillion-dollar mark.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Recent research suggests they may have been taken from Angola by Portuguese slave traders and then captured at sea by British pirates flying the Dutch flag, who then sold them in Virginia.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
