How to Use long-ago in a Sentence

long-ago

1 of 2 adjective
  • There was a grassy smell, the long-ago seeping out of the earth.
    Meredith Maran, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2023
  • The knolls are crowned with scrub oak and the slopes are swept bare from a long-ago fire.
    Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 2 Aug. 2024
  • The same goes with the James gang, other folk heroes from a long-ago.
    Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 11 Jan. 2025
  • Bringing Duvall back to the Bay would right a long-ago wrong.
    Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 2 Jan. 2024
  • That was back when things were different, in the long-ago world of 2014 or so.
    Brooke Jarvis, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2023
  • This book holds a special place in my heart as my long-ago intro to the genre.
    Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024
  • Then the long-ago baseball lessons from his mother kicked in.
    Hikari Hida, New York Times, 26 July 2023
  • The plot of land’s long-ago owner came up with a direct method of keeping the outside world at bay.
    Bob Greene, WSJ, 6 Mar. 2023
  • Fifteen then surveys the long-ago sky into which Joy, as a star, has risen.
    Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 25 Dec. 2024
  • That’s still far below the long-ago pre-social media days.
    David Bloom, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
  • That’s still far below the long-ago pre-social media days.
    David Bloom, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
  • My long-ago ancestors may very well have enjoyed the fruit.
    Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2024
  • But the courts are saying no and are not afraid, showing the spirit of those long-ago minutemen.
    New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 19 Apr. 2025
  • Indeed, faint outlines of long-ago lakes have been spotted in the region.
    Katherine Kornei, Discover Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023
  • One of them remembered me from a long-ago visit and greeted me like the prodigal son.
    Robert Klose, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Apr. 2023
  • By season’s end, your current era will feel like a whole ’nother long-ago lifetime.
    Jennifer Culp, Them, 16 Aug. 2024
  • The question of what took place in the boy’s bedroom that day during their long-ago childhood haunts NDiaye’s book.
    Katie Kitamura, The Atlantic, 13 Dec. 2023
  • And that long-ago life still informs his success today.
    Todd Longwell, Variety, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Remi Wolf, whose youthful genre-hopping will give a jolt to a fest that’s heavier on long-ago hits.
    Dan Reilly, Vulture, 9 Apr. 2025
  • At the restaurant Weavers, which serves a succulent plate of seared local scallops, a plaque marks the level of a long-ago flood.
    Shane C Kurup, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Dec. 2024
  • His section on cholera opens with his own long-ago purchase of a book, in Paris, on Marcel Proust’s father, Adrien.
    Julia M. Klein, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Crockett said the song was inspired by his long-ago period of busking in New York City.
    Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Crockett said the song was inspired by his long-ago period of busking in New York City.
    Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Technique plays a strong role, with the warm amber tones and use of slow-motion in the long-ago past contrasting with the flatter and more formal look of the present.
    Richard Kuipers, Variety, 2 Nov. 2024
  • Browse the museum, hike the trails — the Tower Trail takes you to the site of the long-ago observation tower — then check out the town’s art galleries and murals.
    Jackie Burrell, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024
  • No quotes from long-ago laureates in this one — just Colby’s own brilliance.
    Drew Goins, Washington Post, 2 July 2024
  • In a long-ago interview, the director Mike Nichols cautioned a nascent film reviewer to not mistake the dancer for the dance.
    Lisa Kennedy, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2023
  • At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.
    The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2023
  • At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.
    The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024
  • At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.
    The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2023

long ago

2 of 2 noun
  • Sparse shoots of grass have long ago grown over the dirt.
    Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 10 July 2024
  • Not that long ago, there was O’Doul’s and Sharp's, and that was it.
    Nicole Haase, Journal Sentinel, 29 Dec. 2022
  • The group long ago stopped trying to catch the last owlet.
    Zachary T. Sampson, Sun Sentinel, 4 Dec. 2022
  • The writing was on the dugout wall as long ago as 2008.
    Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 4 May 2022
  • Not too long ago, the Coastal League was among the county’s best.
    John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2023
  • And 1,500 years ago is not that long ago in the big picture.
    Elizabeth Nicholas, Vogue, 15 June 2022
  • Germany was the trading hotspot of the world not too long ago.
    Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune, 21 Sep. 2023
  • But actions long ago set the stage for the bulk of the increases.
    Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Nov. 2023
  • There was a time—and not very long ago—that would have scoffed at 11% growth.
    Dan Gallagher, WSJ, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Some of the players have been with the show for years or did it long ago and have come back.
    Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 11 Dec. 2024
  • The decade wasn’t that long ago, but there’s already been signs that point to yes.
    Christian Allaire, Vogue, 14 Dec. 2022
  • The Slackers long ago learned to give each other space on the road.
    Washington Post, 24 Dec. 2021
  • That’s one lesson boomers seem to have learned long ago.
    Byjane Thier, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2023
  • The windows and doors had long ago been blown out from the force of nearby blasts.
    Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 7 Apr. 2024
  • On the contrary, Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire long ago.
    David Brennan, ABC News, 1 June 2025
  • The answer to that question, the agency says, is not too long ago.
    Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Not that long ago, Afghanistan was a booming trade hub.
    David Chaffetz, Fortune Asia, 15 Dec. 2024
  • And the Kremlin long ago gave up caring about its image in the West.
    Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2023
  • Not long ago, the world was on track to eliminate hunger.
    New York Times, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Once, long ago, a creature not quite human walked the Earth.
    Phil Plait, Scientific American, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Not that long ago, pitchers had teeth pulled to treat their arms.
    Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024
  • Once upon a time, long ago, the world was encased in ice.
    Veronique Greenwood, WIRED, 11 Aug. 2024
  • The area has seen a previous boom, but that was long ago.
    Justin Ray, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2022
  • By then, Hudson had long ago sold his share of the Band to Robertson.
    Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2025
  • But the economic seeds of Trump’s rise were sown long ago.
    Annie Karni, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
  • The old courthouse, which long ago served as a custom house for trade ships.
    Rebecca Ellis, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Aug. 2023
  • The bruises from his time as a hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran faded long ago.
    Ian Shapira, Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2023
  • Seawater can flood the tower and breakers pound the roof and broke the glass long ago.
    Jeastman, oregonlive, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Bouie saw her son have one of these nightmares not too long ago.
    Ariane Lange, Sacramento Bee, 9 May 2024
  • The heavier elements making up our planet and even our body were forged in stars long ago, and our own sun is a star, of course—so in a very real sense, to study stars is to study ourselves.
    Phil Plait, Scientific American, 12 June 2025

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

Last Updated: