Past

Past is sometimes a misspelling of passed, paste or post.

The word past is considered to be an easy one, according to the Dale-Chall word list, which includes 3000 words that all fourth-grade American students should know and understand.

Definition of the noun past

What does past mean as a name of something?

Past is one of the top 1000 most common nouns in the English language.

noun - plural: pasts

1. the time that has elapsed
   • example: forget the past
   • lexical domain: Time - nouns denoting time and temporal relations
   • synonyms of past: past times / yesteryear
   • antonym of past: future
   • more generic word: time = the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past
   • more specific terms:
     • yore = time long past
     • water under the bridge / bygone = past events to be put aside
     • old = past times
     • history = the aggregate of past events
     • time out of mind / time immemorial = the distant past beyond memory
     • auld langsyne / good old days / old times / langsyne = past times remembered with nostalgia
     • yesterday = the recent past
2. a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret)
   • example: reporters dug into the candidate's past
   • lexical domain: Time - nouns denoting time and temporal relations
   • more generic terms: period / period of time / time period = an amount of time
   • part of: life = the period between birth and the present time
3. a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past
   • lexical domain: Communicative Processes - nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
   • synonym of past: past tense
   • more generic word: tense = a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
   • more specific words: preterite / preterit = a term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense

Alternative definition of the noun past

noun

1. The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
2. [grammar] The past tense.

Definition of the adjective past

What does past mean as an attribute of a noun?

adjective - degrees: paster |

1. earlier than the present time; no longer current
   • examples: time past | his youth is past | this past Thursday | the past year
   • antonyms: present; future
   • similar: ago / agone; ancient; bygone / bypast / departed / foregone / gone; chivalric / knightly / medieval; early / former / other; erstwhile / former / old / one-time / onetime / quondam / sometime; former / late / previous; historic / historical; last; late / recent; olden; other; prehistoric / prehistorical; then; ult / ultimo
   • attribute: timing = the time when something happens
   • see also: noncurrent; outgoing; old
2. of a person who has held and relinquished a position or office
   • adjective position: attributive adjective (it occurs before the noun)
   • synonyms of past: preceding / retiring
   • similar: outgoing

Alternative definition of the adjective past

adjective

1. Having already happened; in the past; finished. [definition from 14th c.]
2. [context: postmodifier] Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago. [definition from 15th c.]
3. Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous. [definition from 15th c.]
4. [grammar] Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state. [definition from 18th c.]

Definition of the adverb past

What does past mean as an attribute of something other than a noun?

adverb

1. so as to pass a given point
   • example: every hour a train goes past
   • synonym of past: by

Alternative definition of the adverb past

adverb

1. in a direction that passes

Other definitions of past

What does past also mean?

preposition

1. beyond in place, quantity or time

Business

PAST was a Polish telephone operator in the period between World War I and World War II. It is notable for its main headquarters in Warsaw, which at the time of its construction was the first and tallest skyscraper in the Russian Empire and the tallest building of Warsaw. The fight for the building during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 also added to the legend of the place.

Film

"Past" a.k.a. "The Trap" is a 1950 Czech drama film directed by Martin Frič. It was entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

• read more about The Trap

Artwork

"Past" is a 1935 outdoor sculpture by Robert Ingersoll Aitken, located in front of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. John Russell Pope served as the sculpture's architect and Edward H. Ratti served as its carver. The sculpture is made of Indiana limestone and measures approximately 20 x 8 x 12 feet, with a base approximately 12 x 12 x 15 feet. Past is a companion piece to Present, also located in front of the National Archives Building.

• completed in 1935 (81 years ago)

Music

"Past" is a musical album of Earwig.

• released in 1992 (24 years ago)

Miscellanea

The past is a term used to indicate the totality of events which occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience time, and is accessed through memory and recollection. In addition, human beings have recorded the past since the advent of written language.

• also known as 過去

Phrases with Past

Phrases starting with the word Past:

1. Past It
2. Past paper
3. past tense
4. past times
5. past master
6. Past Simple

Phrases ending with the word Past:

1. by-past
2. go past
3. Non-Past
4. Ten Past
5. Ten-Past
6. Five Past
7. Five-Past
8. Half Past
9. Half-Past
10. Talk Past
11. to go past
12. In the Past
13. Simple Past
14. Simple-Past

View more phrases with the word Past in thesaurus!

Printed dictionaries and other books with definitions for Past

Click on a title to look inside that book (if available):

The Gentlemlen's Lexicon; Or, A Pocket Dictionary, Containing Nearly Every Work in the English Language (1835)

Being Also Particularly Adapted to the Use of Academies and Schools by William Grimshaw

unjualifying; past, unqualified. UNQUESTIONABLE. adj. Indubitable. adv. unquestionably: adj. unquestioned. UNQUI'ET, adj. Not calm; not disturbed. UNRAVEL. v. To disentangle; to extricate . pr., ...

Irish-English/English-Irish Easy Reference Dictionary (2000)

by The Educational Company of Ireland

Past dúirt mé, etc (Aut. deirtear) (Aut. dúradh): (Aut. deirtí) Cond. Mood déarfainn, etc : Pres. Subj. deire mé, etc (Aut. déarfaí) (Aut. deirtear) : (Aut. abairtear). H. Past deirinn, etc (Aut. déarfar). Impr M. abraírn, etc Future déarfaidh mé, etc 2. beìr, ...

The Lexicon-syntax Interface in Second Language Aquisition (2003)

by Roeland van Hout

Introduction It is well-known that advanced L2 speakers of English from certain LI backgrounds show persistent optionality in marking thematic verbs for simple past tense in spontaneous oral production, as for example in The police caught the ...

The Synonymous, Etymological, and Pronouncing English Dictionary (1805)

In which the Words are Deduced from Their Originals, Their Part of Speech Pointed Out, and Their Synonyms Collected, which are Occasionally Illustrated in Their Different Significations, by Examples from the Best Writers by William Perry (lecturer in the Academy at Edinburgh.), William Perry (of Kelso, Scotland.), Samuel Johnson

Past. Participle. Make made made may' might mean meant meant meet met met melt melted jnolten mow mowed mown, mowed must* Owe owed, ought owed, owen Put put put Quit quitted, quit quitted, quit quoth* quoth Read read ...

Online dictionaries and encyclopedias with entries for Past

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Photos about Past

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View more pictures about The Past and Past and Future.

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Video language resources about Past

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View more videos about The Past, Half Past, Past tense, Future Past, Past Simple, Simple Past, Past Perfect, Quarter Past, Past and Future, Past Participle, This Past Spring, and Twenty-Five Past.

See also the pronunciation examples of Past!

Sign language

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Quotes about Past

Past times are strange
Sometimes funny
Sometimes sad
The past
Brings change of views
Change of ideas
Change of heart
But sometimes
The wounds of the past
Never heal
Never leave
The past is strange
And doesn’t change
Never
Change (Missy Lynn)
more quotes about past...

Scrabble value of P₃A₁S₁T₁

The value of this 4-letter word is 6 points. It is included in the first and second editions of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.

Anagrams of PAST

What do you get if you rearrange the letters?

Semordnilap

What do you get if you reverse the order of the letters?

• TSAP

See also the index of semordnilaps!

Other anagrams

What do you get if you rearrange the letters in other ways?

• APTS
• PAT S
• PATS
• PSAT
• PTAS
• S.P.A.T.
• SPAT
• STAP
• TAP'S
• TAPS

See also the blanagrams of Past!

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