the past

noun

1
: an earlier time : the time before the present
happy memories of the past
In the past, there was a company luncheon every month.
2
grammar : a verb tense that is used to refer to the past : the past tense
The past of "walk" is "walked."

Examples of the past in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Radical optimism, in itself, felt like something that really resonated with me over the past few years. Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024 Over the past 15 years, Sheeran has gone from self-releasing his EPs and playing small bars in London to one of modern pop’s best-selling song writers. Kathleen Magramo, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024 Her $17 hourly paycheck, which inched up 80 cents in the past two years, is hardly enough to cover the basics anymore. Abha Bhattarai, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024 Homeownership rates in New Albany were in sharp decline, falling almost 5 percentage points over the past 20 years, the study showed. The Courier-Journal, 18 Mar. 2024 In the past year, the fine-art market has cooled, owing to uncertainty about the economy, but prices for celebrity-adjacent objects keep going up. Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024 Besides teaching at Georgia’s, Gyulai has instructed pre-professional and ballet students at North County Academy of Dance in Bonsall for the past five years. Marcia Luttrell, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Mar. 2024 Starting in 1940, the military Jeep made its debut, and its evolutionary styling for the past 84 years continues through today. David Krumboltz, The Mercury News, 17 Mar. 2024 In the past week alone, more than 800 shoppers have added the shirt to their carts. Nicol Natale, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024

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

Dictionary Entries Near the past

Cite this Entry

“The past.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20past. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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