past
Part of speech: noun
adj
adv
prep
Morphological type: simple
Topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
time
Etymology: From Middle English passed, past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”), whence Modern English pass.
Inflected forms:
form: pasts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more past
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most past
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: more past
pos: adv
tags: comparative
form: most past
pos: adv
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: The past tense.
pos: noun
gloss: Having already happened; in the past; finished.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.
pos: adj
examples: That had been, what, three years past?
Some four decades past, as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].
gloss: Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.
pos: adj
examples: during the past year
Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.
gloss: Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state.
pos: adj
examples: past tense
gloss: In a direction that passes.
pos: adv
examples: I watched him walk past.
gloss: Beyond in place or quantity.
pos: prep
examples: the room past mine
count past twenty
gloss: Any number of minutes after the last hour.
pos: prep
examples: What's the time? - It's now quarter past twelve midday (or 12.15pm) -O,K., we'll stop at half (past) twelve
But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.
gloss: No longer capable of.
pos: prep
examples: I'm past caring what he thinks of me.
gloss: Having recovered or moved on from (a traumatic experience, etc.).
pos: prep
gloss: Passing by, especially without stopping or being delayed.
pos: prep
examples: Ignore them, we'll play past them.
Please don't drive past the fruit stand, I want to stop there.
Synonyms: yestertide
foregone
preceding
used-to-be
backward
forepassed
forepast
historic
historical
hoary
long ago
olden
past
preterite
Antonyms: future
present
Related words: preterite
the past
Derived words: blast from the past
eternity past
in the past
past anterior
past continuous
past historic
pastless
past participle
past perfect
past progressive
past simple
past tense
past-time
simple past
thing of the past
time past
times past
past the end of one's nose
whistle past
Translations: