past

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Pronunciation

• (British) enPR: päst, IPA: /pɑːst/
• (America) enPR: păst, IPA: /pæst/

Noun

past (plural pasts)

1. The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.

   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.

   • Richard Chenevix Trench, On the English Language, Past and Present

     The present is only intelligible in the light of the past, often a very remote past indeed.

2. (grammar) The past tense.

Synonyms

• (period of time that has already happened) foretime, yestertide; see also Thesaurus:the past

Translations

• French: passé
• German: Vergangenheit
• Italian: passato
• Portuguese: passado
• Russian: про́шлое
• Spanish: pasado

Translations

• French: passé
• German: Vergangenheit, Präteritum
• Italian: passato
• Portuguese: pretérito, passado
• Russian: проше́дшее вре́мя
• Spanish: pretérito

Adjective

past

1. Having already happened; in the past; finished. [from 14th c.]

   past glories

2. (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago. [from 15th c.]
   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 538:

     That had been, what, three years past?

   • 2009, John Sadler (historian), Glencoe, Amberley 2009, page 20:

     Some four decades past, as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].

3. Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous. [from 15th c.]

   during the past year

4. (grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state. [from 18th c.]

   past tense

Synonyms

• (having already happened) bygone, foregone; see also Thesaurus:past
• (having just gone by) foregone, preceding, used-to-be; see also Thesaurus:former

Translations

• French: passé
• German: vergangen
• Italian: passato
• Portuguese: passado
• Russian: про́шлый
• Spanish: pasado

Translations

• French: dernier, passé
• Portuguese: passado
• Russian: уше́дший

Translations

• French: passé
• Italian: passato
• Portuguese: passado, pretérito
• Russian: про́шлый

Adverb

past

1. In a direction that passes.

   Synonyms: by

   I watched him walk past

2. (Should we move, merge or split^{([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary%3ARequests+for+moves%2C+mergers+and+splits&action=edit§ion=new&preload=Template:rfm-sense/preload&preloadtitle=%5B%5Bpast%23rfm-sense-notice-en-%7cpast%5D%5D +])} this sense?) Passing by, especially without stopping or being delayed.

   Ignore them, we'll play past them.

   Please don't drive past the fruit stand, I want to stop there.

Translations

• Portuguese: por (aqui)
• Russian: ми́мо

Preposition

1. Beyond in place, quantity or time.

   the room past mine

   count past twenty

   past midnight

2. No longer capable of.

   I'm past caring what he thinks of me.

3. Having recovered or moved on from (a traumatic experience, etc.).

Translations

• French: après
• German: vorbei
• Portuguese: além de, depois de

Verb

1. (obsolete) Simple past tense and past participle of pass
   • , Virgil

     Great Tuscane dames, as she their towns past by, / Wisht her their daughter-in-law, but frustrately.

Related terms

• past master
• past it
• run past
• slip one past
• sneak past
• talk past

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