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ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Past

/pɑːst/ · noun

Meaning

The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future..

Definitions by Sense

  1. The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
  2. (grammar) The past tense.
  3. Having already happened; in the past; finished.
  4. (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.
  5. Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.
  6. (grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state.
  7. In a direction that passes.
  8. Beyond in place or quantity.

Example Sentences

a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past
1830, Daniel Webster, a speech The past, at least, is secure.
The present is only intelligible in the light of the past, often a very remote past indeed.
Every time the little gate creaks--I'm in the shed with the tanks at the end of the garden--I wonder from which of my pasts the person is arriving, seeking me out even here: maybe it is only the past of yesterday and of this same suburb, the squat Arab garbage collector who in October begins his rounds for tips, house by house, with a Happy New Year card, because he says that his colleagues keep all the December tips for themselves and he never gets a penny; but it could also be the more distant pasts pursuing old Ruedi, finding the little gate in the Impasse: smugglers from Valais, mercenaries from Katanga, croupiers from the Veradero casino and the days of Fulgencio Batista.
The Mesozoic landscape of southeastern Utah can tell us much about the past, and it's one of the most intriguing and beautiful landscapes on Earth.
past glories
The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.
That had been, what, three years past?

Synonyms for past

foretimeyestertidebygoneforegoneprecedingused-to-bebackwardforepassedforepasthistorichistoricalhoarylong agooldenpastpreteritebyoldancientmedievalprehistoricyoreknightlychivalricdepartedyesteryearultimobypastagoneretiring

Antonyms for past

futurepresenttohereafterfuturitytime to come

Related Words

bypastforegoneformererstwhilequondamagopreviousbygoneprecedingearlieryoreearlyyesteryearsometimethenrecentonetimeotheronceultimo

Word Forms

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does past mean?

Past means The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future..

What is a synonym for past?

Common synonyms include foretime, yestertide, bygone, foregone.

What is the opposite of past?

Possible antonyms include future, present, to, hereafter.

How do you use past in a sentence?

a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.