What does “past” mean?
- 1
nounthe time before now
In the past, people wrote letters by hand.
- 2
adjectivegone by or recent
It’s rained a lot in the past few days.
- 3
prepositionfarther than or later than something
It’s ten past six.
Past at a glance
- Part of speech
- noun, adjective & preposition
- CEFR level
- A2 (elementary)
- Pronunciation
- /pæst/ · PAST
How to use “past” correctly
Don’t confuse “past” with “passed” (the past of “pass”): “I passed the test,” “I walked past the bank.”
Common phrases with “past”
- in the past
- the past few years
- walk past
- half past
Synonyms, opposites and related words
“past” is on these word lists
Learn these words next
- century nounA2a period of one hundred years
- event nounA2something that happens, especially something important or unusual
- history nounA2the study of events that happened in the past
- moment nounA2a very short period of time
- period nounA2a length of time
- present nounA2something you give to someone, for example on their birthday
- stage nounA2a part or point in a process
- age nounA1the number of years someone has lived or something has existed