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yesterday

[yes-ter-dey, -dee]
See more synonyms for yesterday on Thesaurus.com
adverb
  1. on the day preceding this day.
  2. a short time ago: Yesterday your money went further.
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noun
  1. the day preceding this day.
  2. time in the immediate past.
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adjective
  1. belonging or pertaining to the day before or to a time in the immediate past: yesterday morning.
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Origin of yesterday

before 950; Middle English; Old English geostran dæg. See yester-, day
Related formsyes·ter·day·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for yesterday

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • We met the son and the old man at one of their mines yesterday.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Fifty-two runs since yesterday at this time, and the bell still ringing.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • It won't be any safer to insult me now than it was yesterday.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • The appearance of the country ahead is better than it looked yesterday.

  • After this we left them and continued on to the spring found yesterday, and camped.

British Dictionary definitions for yesterday

yesterday

noun
  1. the day immediately preceding today
  2. (often plural) the recent past
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adverb
  1. on or during the day before today
  2. in the recent past
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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

Word Origin and History for yesterday

n.

Old English geostran dæg, from dæg "day" (see day) + geostran "yesterday," from Proto-Germanic *gestra- (cf. Old High German gestaron, German gestern "yesterday," Old Norse gær "tomorrow, yesterday," Gothic gistradagis "tomorrow"), originally "the other day" (reckoned from "today," either backward or forward), from PIE *ghes (cf. Sanskrit hyah, Avestan zyo, Persian di, Greek khthes, Latin heri, Old Irish indhe, Welsh doe "yesterday;" Latin hesternus "of yesterday").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with yesterday

yesterday

see not born yesterday.

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