past — OAT · Shobdo

past

adjective

1 memories of times past | writers from past centuries:

gone by, over, over and done with, no more, gone, done, dead and buried, finished, ended, forgotten, bygone, former, old, of old, earlier, long-ago, ancient, defunct, extinct;

literary of yore, olden, foregone.

2 the past few months:

last, recent, preceding, latter.

3 a past chairman of the society:

previous, former, prior, foregoing, late, erstwhile, as was, one-time, sometime, ex-;

formal quondam;

archaic whilom.

▷antonyms present; future.

noun

she gave little away about her past:

history, background, life story, life, experience, career to date, biography.

□ in the past

some of the shelters may have been habitation sites in the past:

formerly, previously, in days/years/times gone by, in bygone days, back in the day, in former times, in the (good) old days, at one time, in days of old, in the olden days, in olden times, in the before times;

before, hitherto, once, once upon a time, time was when, in auld lang syne, long ago, in antiquity;

literary in days of yore, of yore, in yesteryear.

preposition

1 she walked past the cafe:

in front of, by, beyond.

2 he's well past retirement age:

beyond, beyond the limits of, in excess of.

□ past itinformal

I was told I was past it when I was 28:

past one's prime, not as young as one was, not as young as one used to be;

in one's dotage, long in the tooth, as old as the hills;

elderly, old, aged, senior, ancient, venerable;

decrepit, doddering, doddery, not long for this world;

informal over the hill, no spring chicken;

formal senescent.

adverb

they averted their eyes and hurried past:

along, by, on.