How to Use long-ago in a Sentence

long-ago

1 of 2 adjective
  • There was a grassy smell, the long-ago seeping out of the earth.
    — Meredith Maran, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2023
  • The knolls are crowned with scrub oak and the slopes are swept bare from a long-ago fire.
    — Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 2 Aug. 2024
  • The same goes with the James gang, other folk heroes from a long-ago.
    — Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 11 Jan. 2025
  • Bringing Duvall back to the Bay would right a long-ago wrong.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 2 Jan. 2024
  • That was back when things were different, in the long-ago world of 2014 or so.
    — Brooke Jarvis, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2023
  • This book holds a special place in my heart as my long-ago intro to the genre.
    — Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024
  • Then the long-ago baseball lessons from his mother kicked in.
    — Hikari Hida, New York Times, 26 July 2023
  • The plot of land’s long-ago owner came up with a direct method of keeping the outside world at bay.
    — Bob Greene, WSJ, 6 Mar. 2023
  • Fifteen then surveys the long-ago sky into which Joy, as a star, has risen.
    — Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 25 Dec. 2024
  • That’s still far below the long-ago pre-social media days.
    — David Bloom, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
  • My long-ago ancestors may very well have enjoyed the fruit.
    — Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2024
  • Indeed, faint outlines of long-ago lakes have been spotted in the region.
    — Katherine Kornei, Discover Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023
  • One of them remembered me from a long-ago visit and greeted me like the prodigal son.
    — Robert Klose, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Apr. 2023
  • By season’s end, your current era will feel like a whole ’nother long-ago lifetime.
    — Jennifer Culp, Them, 16 Aug. 2024
  • The question of what took place in the boy’s bedroom that day during their long-ago childhood haunts NDiaye’s book.
    — Katie Kitamura, The Atlantic, 13 Dec. 2023
  • At the restaurant Weavers, which serves a succulent plate of seared local scallops, a plaque marks the level of a long-ago flood.
    — Shane C Kurup, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Dec. 2024
  • His section on cholera opens with his own long-ago purchase of a book, in Paris, on Marcel Proust’s father, Adrien.
    — Julia M. Klein, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Crockett said the song was inspired by his long-ago period of busking in New York City.
    — Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Crockett said the song was inspired by his long-ago period of busking in New York City.
    — Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Technique plays a strong role, with the warm amber tones and use of slow-motion in the long-ago past contrasting with the flatter and more formal look of the present.
    — Richard Kuipers, Variety, 2 Nov. 2024
  • Browse the museum, hike the trails — the Tower Trail takes you to the site of the long-ago observation tower — then check out the town’s art galleries and murals.
    — Jackie Burrell, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024
  • No quotes from long-ago laureates in this one — just Colby’s own brilliance.
    — Drew Goins, Washington Post, 2 July 2024
  • In a long-ago interview, the director Mike Nichols cautioned a nascent film reviewer to not mistake the dancer for the dance.
    — Lisa Kennedy, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2023
  • At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.
    — The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2023
  • At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.
    — The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2023
  • At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.
    — The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Cloutier said these beings are integral to the story and leftovers from that long-ago era.
    — Gieson Cacho, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2024
  • Her new one follows Ebby, the scion of a wealthy Black family who is reckoning with the long-ago death of her brother.
    — Michael Schaub, Orange County Register, 2 Jan. 2025
  • The former is a long-ago time when the universe was just a sea of neutral hydrogen gas; the latter a slightly later time when the first stars turned on.
    — Sarah Scoles, Quanta Magazine, 20 Sep. 2023
  • For us, these words were more than about remembering some long-ago dinner between Jesus and his disciples.
    — Terrance Carroll, The Denver Post, 20 Jan. 2025

long ago

2 of 2 noun
  • Sparse shoots of grass have long ago grown over the dirt.
    — Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 10 July 2024
  • Not that long ago, there was O’Doul’s and Sharp's, and that was it.
    — Nicole Haase, Journal Sentinel, 29 Dec. 2022
  • The group long ago stopped trying to catch the last owlet.
    — Zachary T. Sampson, Sun Sentinel, 4 Dec. 2022
  • The writing was on the dugout wall as long ago as 2008.
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 4 May 2022
  • Not too long ago, the Coastal League was among the county’s best.
    — John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2023
  • And 1,500 years ago is not that long ago in the big picture.
    — Elizabeth Nicholas, Vogue, 15 June 2022
  • Germany was the trading hotspot of the world not too long ago.
    — Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune, 21 Sep. 2023
  • But actions long ago set the stage for the bulk of the increases.
    — Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Nov. 2023
  • There was a time—and not very long ago—that would have scoffed at 11% growth.
    — Dan Gallagher, WSJ, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Some of the players have been with the show for years or did it long ago and have come back.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 11 Dec. 2024
  • The decade wasn’t that long ago, but there’s already been signs that point to yes.
    — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 14 Dec. 2022
  • The Slackers long ago learned to give each other space on the road.
    — Washington Post, 24 Dec. 2021
  • That’s one lesson boomers seem to have learned long ago.
    — Byjane Thier, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2023
  • The windows and doors had long ago been blown out from the force of nearby blasts.
    — Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 7 Apr. 2024
  • The answer to that question, the agency says, is not too long ago.
    — Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Not that long ago, Afghanistan was a booming trade hub.
    — David Chaffetz, Fortune Asia, 15 Dec. 2024
  • And the Kremlin long ago gave up caring about its image in the West.
    — Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2023
  • Not long ago, the world was on track to eliminate hunger.
    — New York Times, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Once, long ago, a creature not quite human walked the Earth.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Not that long ago, pitchers had teeth pulled to treat their arms.
    — Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
  • Once upon a time, long ago, the world was encased in ice.
    — Veronique Greenwood, WIRED, 11 Aug. 2024
  • The area has seen a previous boom, but that was long ago.
    — Justin Ray, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2022
  • By then, Hudson had long ago sold his share of the Band to Robertson.
    — Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2025
  • But the economic seeds of Trump’s rise were sown long ago.
    — Annie Karni, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
  • The old courthouse, which long ago served as a custom house for trade ships.
    — Rebecca Ellis, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Aug. 2023
  • The bruises from his time as a hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran faded long ago.
    — Ian Shapira, Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2023
  • Seawater can flood the tower and breakers pound the roof and broke the glass long ago.
    — Jeastman, oregonlive, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Bouie saw her son have one of these nightmares not too long ago.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacramento Bee, 9 May 2024
  • The Democratic Party long ago sold its soul to its progressive base, and that base grows more radical all the time.
    — Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 13 Mar. 2025
  • There was a time not too long ago when Martinez would spend entire days under a bridge performing his songs for passersby, bringing home 100 pesos (or about $5) home to his family.
    — Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'long-ago.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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