How to Use before in a Sentence

before

1 of 2 adverb or adjective

• Bake it before and heat it up there?
  — Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 13 June 2026
• Things flare up in the game before.
  — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 28 Oct. 2025
• Will the hunger be worse than before?
  — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 13 June 2026
• Zhang had seen the ad a few times before.
  — Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 6 June 2026
• Richard had died the year before.
  — Aubrey Violeta Gelpieryn, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2026
• Gary has had civic dreams before.
  — Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 8 Feb. 2026
• Trump has faced threats to his life before.
  — Dallas Morning News, 22 Feb. 2026
• Has the fish been frozen before?
  — Lauren David, Southern Living, 15 Feb. 2026
• That's up two cents from the day before.
  — Kelly McCarthy, ABC News, 2 May 2026
• Welsh worked with those before.
  — Courtney Crowder, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2026
• And the ball from the night before came with him.
  — Josh Taylor, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
• Wash, cut, and mix all the fruit the night before.
  — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 1 Mar. 2026
• But they’ve been burned before.
  — Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
• The van was stolen in Ohio days before.
  — Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 1 Mar. 2026
• She had never been moved by a text before.
  — Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2026
• But the ship has been on steep discount before.
  — Michael Ballaban, CNN Money, 9 May 2026
• One close friend who had sold a business before.
  — Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026
• What about [May’s] chords before?
  — Jem Aswad, Variety, 27 Mar. 2026
• None of my teachers had talked to me this way before.
  — Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
• Dominique had brought her a glass of rosé not long before.
  — Gaby Wood, Vogue, 21 Feb. 2026
• This year there is more vets running than any year before.
  — CBS News, 7 June 2026
• The foul occurred well before and very far away from the goal.
  — Nbc News, NBC news, 7 July 2026
• All you’re left with is the echo of what was better before.
  — Chase Hutchinson, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2026
• No one had written like that before.
  — Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
• Players who have been through it before have their doubts.
  — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Jan. 2026
• His goldfish had died the year before.
  — Rachel Hale, USA Today, 14 Oct. 2025
• The world has seen this pattern before.
  — Andy J. Semotiuk, Forbes.com, 21 June 2026
• There’s been nobody like her before and there won’t be again.
  — Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 30 Jan. 2026
• This co- this year, there is more vets running than any year before.
  — CBS News, 7 June 2026
• If peace could have been reached before, there’s no turning back now.
  — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026

before

2 of 2 preposition

• You'll see my house just before the bank and after the school.
• Why haven't you ever helped me before now?
• The championship fight took place before a crowd of thousands.
• Your name is listed before mine.
• Call me before your arrival.
• He left just before sunrise.
• I've never seen her so happy before now.
• She arrived the day before yesterday.
• We arrived shortly before six o'clock.
• The Great Plains stretched endlessly before them.
• Wash and dry them before the storm.
  — Orlando Sentinel Staff, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 May 2026
• Nweeia had met the hunter five hours before the murder.
  — Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
• Lewis wrote before work and during lunch breaks or stayed up late.
  — Dan Kelly, Kansas City Star, 29 Sep. 2025
• Here’s what to know before adding it to your routine.
  — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Apr. 2026
• Parking gates open four hours before match time.
  — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 14 June 2026
• Jake turns to the stands for one last glance at his father before tipoff.
  — Mirin Fader, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
• The child is not supposed to die before the parent.
  — Louis Casiano , Janelle Ash, FOXNews.com, 3 Nov. 2025
• The group of four poses as cameras flash before them.
  — Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 21 Jan. 2026
• Roger would go out and kind of mess around right before the tournament.
  — Patrick McEnroe, New York Times, 28 Jan. 2026
• It can be found in the look Jake gives him, one last time in the stands before tipoff.
  — Mirin Fader, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
• About a third of the team had never played before the start of the season.
  — Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 24 May 2026
• Syria's sector opened well before this war and stayed open through it.
  — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
• Join four or five startups before starting your own.
  — Tim Brinkhof, Big Think, 15 Sep. 2025
• This is your glow-up before your birthday season.
  — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 22 Sep. 2025
• Then the second deputy does the same before the first mounts the gator to hold it down and clamp its mouth.
  — Richard Tribou, Boston Herald, 22 Sep. 2025
• Water should be brought to a rolling boil and kept boiling for at least one minute before use.
  — Cbs News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 1 July 2026
• Ten did it the year before that, which was one off the record for the most in a single season.
  — Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
• Process, release, and prepare before your next push.
  — Usa Today, USA Today, 28 June 2026
• The Broncos flew out to work him out shortly before the draft.
  — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 25 Apr. 2026
• Silva had just spoken to the victim just four days before the fire.
  — Sheetal Banchariya, New York Daily News, 2 May 2026