past
/pæst/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.36 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
noun
The past tense.
adj
Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "The present is only intelligible in the light of the past, often a very remote past indeed."
- "Every time the little gate creaks--I'm in the shed with the tanks at the end of the garden--I wonder from which of my pasts the person is arriving, seeking me out even here: maybe it is only the past of yesterday and of this same suburb, the squat Arab garbage collector who in October begins his rounds for tips, house by house, with a Happy New Year card, because he says that his colleagues keep all the December tips for themselves and he never gets a penny; but it could also be the more distant pasts pursuing old Ruedi, finding the little gate in the Impasse: smugglers from Valais, mercenaries from Katanga, croupiers from the Veradero casino and the days of Fulgencio Batista."
- "The Mesozoic landscape of southeastern Utah can tell us much about the past, and it's one of the most intriguing and beautiful landscapes on Earth."
- "past glories"
Etymology
From Middle English passed, past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”), whence Modern English pass.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pæst/
- British English: /pɑːst/