- gone by in time
- in past years/centuries
- in times past
- The time for discussion is past.
- The days are long past when people worked at the same company all their lives.
Homophones passed | pastpassed past/pɑːst//pæst/- passed verb (past tense, past participle of pass)
- You've passed all your exams—well done!
- past adjective
- It's arguably the best novel of the past 20 years.
- past noun
- Let's put the past behind us and move on.
- past preposition
- You shouldn't be up—it's past your bedtime!
Extra Examples- In past years the industry received large subsidies.
- Theatre in past centuries was mass entertainment, but that is not the case today.
- The book is a celebration of working class life in times past.
- [only before noun] gone by recently; just ended
- in the past year/month/week
- I've seen her several times over the past few days.
- The past month has been really busy at work.
- This past summer I worked at a theatre.
- [only before noun] belonging to an earlier time
- From past experience I'd say he'd probably forgotten the time.
- past and present students of the college
- Let's forget about who was more to blame—it's all past history.
- I warned her not to repeat her past mistakes.
- past events
- Americans hold past presidents in high regard.
- He is reluctant to speak about his past life as a professional musician.
- [only before noun] (grammar) connected with the form of a verb used to express actions in the past
- the past tense
Word OriginMiddle English: variant of passed, past participle of pass.
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past