was

American

[wuhz, woz, wuhz] / wʌz, wɒz, wəz /

verb

first and third person singular past indicative of be.

was British

/ wɒz, wəz /

verb

the past tense (indicative mood) of be 1
not_standard a form of the subjunctive mood used in place of were, esp in conditional sentences

if the film was to be with you, would you be able to process it?

"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

Etymology

Origin of was

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English wæs, past tense singular of wesan “to be”; cognate with Old Frisian, Old High German, Gothic was, Old Norse var; wassail

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.

Tamasi gave Jones the bag, she said, but his request was baffling.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

The case was closed as a legal homicide under South Carolina’s stand-your-ground law.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

A famous mine-clearing rat, who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, has been commemorated with the world's first statue dedicated to a landmine-detecting rat.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat, was trained by the Belgian charity Apopo before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career in 2016.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Sandy June’s was the only cure for a mood this crappy.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023