past (pɑːst
)
Definitions
adjective
- completed, finished, and no longer in existence ⇒
past happiness
- denoting or belonging to all or a segment of the time that has elapsed at the present moment ⇒
the past history of the world
- denoting a specific unit of time that immediately precedes the present one ⇒
the past month
- (prenominal) denoting a person who has held and relinquished an office or position; former ⇒
a past president
- 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 (sense 4) , perfect (sense 8)
noun
- See the past
- the history, experience, or background of a nation, person, etc ⇒
a soldier with a distinguished past
- an earlier period of someone's life, esp one that contains events kept secret or regarded as disreputable
- grammar
- a past tense
- a verb in a past tense
adverb
- at a specified or unspecified time before the present; ago ⇒
three years past
- on or onwards ⇒
I greeted him but he just walked past
preposition
- beyond in time ⇒
it's past midnight
- beyond in place or position ⇒
the library is past the church
- moving beyond; in a direction that passes ⇒
he walked past me
- beyond or above the reach, limit, or scope of ⇒
his foolishness is past comprehension
- beyond or above in number or amount ⇒
to count past ten
- See past it
- See not put it past someone
Word Origin
C14: from passed, past participle of passSynonyms
View thesaurus entry= former times
history,
long ago,
antiquity,
the good old days
yesteryear,
times past the old times days gone by
the olden days,
days of yore
=
former,
late,
early,
recent,
previous,
ancient,
prior,
long-ago
preceding,
foregoing,
erstwhile,
bygone,
olden,
Quotations
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there"
"The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet"
"As all historians know, the past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes"
"The past is never dead, it is not even past"
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
"I think we agree, the past is over"
Translations
- British English:
past
Past events and things happened or existed before the present time....details of his past activities.pɑːst NOUN ...details of his past activities.
- Spanish:
pasado
adj pasada
- French:
passé
adj
- German:
vergangen
adj
- Chinese: 过去的 adj
- Arabic: ماضٍ adj
- Portuguese: passado adj passada
- Russian: прошедший adj прошедшая
- Croatian: prošao adj prošla
- Czech: dřívější adj
- Danish: tidligere adj
- Dutch: vroeger adj
- Finnish: mennyt adj
- Greek: περασμένος adj περασμένη
- Italian: passato adj passata
- Japanese: 過ぎ去った no_posp
- Korean: 과거의 adj
- Norwegian: forhenværende adj
- Polish: przeszły adj przeszła
- Brazilian Portuguese: passado adj passada
- European Spanish:
pasado
adj pasada
- Swedish: förfluten adj förflutet
- Thai: ที่ผ่านไปแล้ว adj
- Turkish: geçmiş adj
- Vietnamese: đã qua adj
- British English:
past
The past is the period of time before now.In the past, there weren't any computers.pɑːst NOUN In the past, there weren't any computers.
- Spanish:
pasado
nm
- French:
passé
nm
- German:
Vergangenheit
nf
- Chinese: 过去 n
- Arabic: الـمَاضِي n
- Portuguese: passado nm
- Russian: прошлое nnt
- Croatian: prošlost nf
- Czech: minulost nf
- Danish: fortid nutr
- Dutch: verleden nnt
- Finnish: menneisyys n
- Greek: παρελθόν nnt
- Italian: passato nm
- Japanese: 過去 n
- Korean: 과거 n
- Norwegian: fortid nm
- Polish: przeszłość nf
- Brazilian Portuguese: passado nm
- European Spanish:
pasado
nm
- Swedish: förflutet nnt
- Thai: สิ่งที่เกิดในอดีต n
- Turkish: geçmiş n
- Vietnamese: quá khứ n
- British English:
past
You use past when you are telling the time.It was ten past eleven.pɑːst NOUN It was ten past eleven.
- Spanish: después de prep
- French:
après
prep
- German:
nach
prep
- Chinese: 越过 prep
- Arabic: بَعْدُ prep
- Portuguese: para além de prep
- Russian: за prep
- Croatian: mimo prep
- Czech: po prep
- Danish: forbi prep
- Dutch: voorbij prep
- Finnish: ohi prep
- Greek: μετά από prep
- Italian: passato prep
- Japanese: ･･･を過ぎて prep
- Korean: ...을 지나서 prep
- Norwegian: forbi prep
- Polish: po prep
- Brazilian Portuguese: para além de prep
- European Spanish: después de prep
- Swedish: förbi prep
- Thai: เลยผ่าน prep
- Turkish: yoluyla prep
- Vietnamese: qua prep
- British English:
past
Something that is past a place is on the other side of it.It's just past the school there.pɑːst NOUN It's just past the school there.
- French: de l'autre côté de prep
- Arabic: وَرَاءَ prep
- Brazilian Portuguese: depois adv
Usage examples
I was walking past an Italian restaurant round the corner from work.
, THE EXECUTION (2002)Read more Chelsea Memory Game Find all the matching pairs of cards featuring images from past Chelsea flower show events.
Country Life (2004)A year ago it looked like the suffocating intimacy of church and State in the Republic was a thing of the past.
Irish Times (2002)We would like to see compensation based on past averages, which would seem fair all round.
Glasgow Herald (2001)She has kept well over the past 12 months, needing no drugs.
, BEYOND FEAR (2002)