past
Americanadjective
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gone by or elapsed in time.
It was a bad time, but it's all past now.
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of, having existed in, or having occurred during a time previous to the present; bygone.
the past glories of the Incas.
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gone by just before the present time; just passed.
during the past year.
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ago.
six days past.
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having formerly been or served as; previous; earlier.
three past presidents of the club.
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Grammar. designating a tense, or other verb formation or construction, that refers to events or states in time gone by.
noun
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the time gone by.
He could remember events far back in the past.
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the history of a person, nation, etc..
our country's glorious past.
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what has existed or has happened at some earlier time.
Try to forget the past, now that your troubles are over.
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the events, phenomena, conditions, etc., that characterized an earlier historical period.
That hat is something out of the past.
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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.
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Grammar. past tense.
adverb
preposition
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beyond in time; later than; after.
past noon;
half past six.
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beyond in space or position; farther on than.
the house just past the church.
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in a direction so as to pass by or go beyond.
We went past the house by mistake.
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beyond in amount, number, etc..
past the maximum age for enlisting in the army.
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beyond the reach, scope, influence, or power of.
He is past hope of recovery.
adjective
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completed, finished, and no longer in existence
past happiness
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denoting or belonging to all or a segment of the time that has elapsed at the present moment
the past history of the world
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denoting a specific unit of time that immediately precedes the present one
the past month
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(prenominal) denoting a person who has held and relinquished an office or position; former
a past president
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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 perfect
noun
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the period of time or a segment of it that has elapsed
forget the past
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the history, experience, or background of a nation, person, etc
a soldier with a distinguished past
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an earlier period of someone's life, esp one that contains events kept secret or regarded as disreputable
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grammar
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a past tense
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a verb in a past tense
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adverb
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at a specified or unspecified time before the present; ago
three years past
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on or onwards
I greeted him but he just walked past
preposition
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beyond in time
it's past midnight
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beyond in place or position
the library is past the church
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moving beyond; in a direction that passes
he walked past me
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beyond or above the reach, limit, or scope of
his foolishness is past comprehension
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beyond or above in number or amount
to count past ten
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informal unable to perform the tasks one could do when one was younger
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to consider someone capable of (the action specified)
Usage
The past participle of pass is sometimes wrongly spelt past: the time for recriminations has passed (not past )
Etymology
Origin of past
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Middle English, variant spelling of passed, past participle of pass
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.
"In the past it was not considered a priority to secure your operations in quite the same way as it is now," she points out.
From BBC
"At quarter past two in the middle of the night, there was an emergency message being blared out throughout the hotel," she told BBC News NI.
From BBC
The Two Sessions is tightly controlled, but delegates in the past have used the opportunity to try to push pet policies, particularly social measures.
From Barron's
Devoting the majority of his speech to his government's macroeconomic successes over the past two years, particularly in combating inflation, Milei said he wanted to press his reforms further.
From Barron's
"When I left, I left with nothing," he told AFP, as waiters whirled past carrying steaming plates of traditional Syrian fare.
From Barron's
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.
