past 1 of 3

as in history
the events or experience of former times we spent a pleasant evening recalling the past together

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

past

2 of 3

adjective

past

3 of 3

preposition

1
as in over
on or to the farther side of I drive past the school every day

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in after
subsequent to in time or order it's ten minutes past six o'clock

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of past
Noun
Consider the leaders in your past who inspired the best from you. Todd Nordstrom, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025 Simone and Ethan's relationship continues on rocky footing when her traumatic past is revisited, including her experience in foster care after the death of her mother, the subsequent unraveling of her father’s mental state and her fraught relationship with him. Francesca Gariano, People.com, 24 May 2025
Adjective
Trump’s past sabotage of COVID-19 safety measures is linked to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Tom Debley, Mercury News, 4 June 2025 And so, a series of court cases and Secretary Kennedy’s request for another look at mifepristone set a potentially unsettling precedent in which the FDA’s regulatory authority from past decisions is undermined. Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes.com, 3 June 2025
Preposition
Leon Draisaitl buried a feed from Connor McDavid past Sergei Bobrovsky a little over a minute later to seal the Oilers’ 4-3 win at Edmonton’s Rogers Place to begin the best-of-7 series. Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 5 June 2025 Viktor Arvidsson, a new addition to Edmonton who did not play against the Panthers in the Final last year, snuck a long-range shot past Bobrovsky to cut Florida’s lead to 3-2. Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 5 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for past
Recent Examples of Synonyms for past
Noun
  • Barring something substantial keeping him from reaching that mark in 2025, Machado will become the 79th player in history to have accomplished the 350/2,000 double and just the 12th to do so by his age-32 season.
    Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 June 2025
  • The biggest change to the Joy-Con is a bizarre one that has roots in Nintendo history.
    Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 5 June 2025
Adjective
  • Thornton and Veronica Burton — both former Dallas Wings teammates — combined for 13 points in the third, but the lead again stretched to 16 at the end of the third.
    Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 28 May 2025
  • Legends finds Jackson playing Victor, a former boxing champ and pizzeria owner.
    Nicole Acosta, People.com, 28 May 2025
Preposition
  • Asian Americans’ outrage over a judge’s leniency in the case — the assailants received $3,000 fines and no jail time — sparked a surge of activism seeking tougher hate crime laws nationwide.
    Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 31 May 2025
  • With a question mark hanging over the authenticity of the video, the veracity of the story is also being re-investigated.
    Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 30 May 2025
Preposition
  • But a baseball team’s fortunes can change relatively quickly, and heading into the four-game series this week at Rate Field, the Tigers had the best record in baseball at 39-21, while the Sox were on pace to lose 113 games, after their record-setting 121-loss season of 2024.
    Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2025
  • So, that means for the most part, the Reds’ trade pieces are in one of two groups — players who will be a free agent after the 2025 season and those with another year of team control through the 2026 season.
    C. Trent Rosecrans, New York Times, 2 June 2025
Adjective
  • International students make up about 27% of the student body at the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.
    Andy Rose, CNN Money, 5 June 2025
  • Former New College student Katie Helms, 47, got emotional when remembering her old mentor.
    Toria Sheffield, People.com, 25 May 2025
Preposition
  • But the park’s defining feature — aside from the giant Tiger outside its gates — is still the city skyline beyond the outfield walls.
    Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 30 May 2025
  • There are reasons to reduce solitary confinement that extend beyond what occurs inside locked prisons, stressed Duke University researcher Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein.
    Gavin Off, Charlotte Observer, 30 May 2025
Adjective
  • Similarly, SpaceX is hugely dependent on direct grants and regulatory permitting, clearances, and partnership from NASA and other federal agencies.
    Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Time, 6 June 2025
  • Avoid tall, isolated trees or other elevated objects.
    CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 6 June 2025
Adjective
  • This and other such studies are significant steps in the erstwhile direction of mapping brain-mind formulations to the nature of mental disorders.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025
  • In 2017 under the erstwhile Nebraska star, the Knights capped a 13-0 season by defeating Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
    Matt Murschel, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 May 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Past.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/past. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on past

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!