1
as in lived
to have life
stories that begin with the familiar line "once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
as in ranked
to take or have a certain position within a group arranged in vertical classes
our school's football team is first in its division
Synonyms & Similar Words
4
as in happened
to take place
the party is next Saturday
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of was
Then too there was a whole other set of incentives.
—
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Hell there was even a cartoon about it.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2025
Like, there was no through-line narrative.
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 6 Nov. 2025
There was a distinct set of tales dealing with demons who collected idle chatter in churches, and, over time, these stories were folded into the expanding legend of Tutivillus.
—JSTOR Daily, 31 Oct. 2025
There was a lot of nervous smiling.
—Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
There was always a warmness, there was always a laughter, there was always a family feel.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 31 Oct. 2025
Three people with knowledge of those interests said there was consternation among insiders that forcing Maduro out could foment chaos and unrest and impede their access.
—Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
There was also a wind advisory for New York City through midnight Friday, the National Weather Service for the region said.
—Phil Helsel, NBC news, 30 Oct. 2025
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Hell there was even a cartoon about it.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2025
Like, there was no through-line narrative.
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 6 Nov. 2025
There was a distinct set of tales dealing with demons who collected idle chatter in churches, and, over time, these stories were folded into the expanding legend of Tutivillus.
—JSTOR Daily, 31 Oct. 2025
There was a lot of nervous smiling.
—Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
There was always a warmness, there was always a laughter, there was always a family feel.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 31 Oct. 2025
Three people with knowledge of those interests said there was consternation among insiders that forcing Maduro out could foment chaos and unrest and impede their access.
—Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
There was also a wind advisory for New York City through midnight Friday, the National Weather Service for the region said.
—Phil Helsel, NBC news, 30 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for was
Verb
-
One of those neighbors was Lat Williams, who has lived full-time on the same stretch of beach as Morgan and Dodick for decades.—
Samantha Delouya,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Billionaire Hushang Ansary has lived his life at the junction of money and power.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Protests surround store opening As customers first entered the new Shein store on Wednesday, riot police officers stood watch.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
7 Nov. 2025
-
The original downtown Detroit space stood for more than 30 years but closed more than a decade ago.—
Susan Selasky,
Freep.com,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Then, amid the noise, athletic director Chris McIntosh jolted the fan base by declaring that Fickell would return in 2026 — even as the Badgers sat 2-6 with an offense ranked 134th of 136 nationally.—
Ira Gorawara,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Personal services, child care and education ranked at the top for satisfaction.—
Robert Frank,
CNBC,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
That’s exactly what happened — and the Aggies may even be on the way up in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings.—
Maddie Hartley,
Kansas City Star,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Dreier says that understanding what happened and is happening to Mars could help scientists better protect our own climate and atmosphere from current and future solar threats.—
Matthew Glasser,
ABC News,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Now, industry eyerolling at the thought of listening faster has existed since the majority of audio storytelling moved from terrestrial radio—where there’s no skipping, scrubbing forward or backward, and certainly no way to speed things up—to podcasting.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Indie sleaze, the hallucination of a 2000s seedy-chic genre that never fully existed, is in vogue.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Levi Jones, a 33-year-old business owner, pulled up to Sacred Eye Tattoos in Hollywood last week and sat for eight hours getting a photorealistic black-and-white portrait of Mangione on his leg.—
Amanda Rosa,
Orlando Sentinel,
24 Dec. 2024
-
The birthday boy and his big sister Sterling Skye, 3, each sat between one of their parents’ laps.—
Angel Saunders,
People.com,
24 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
In a world of wifi and streaming, give me the reels of film that have to be carefully placed and changed.—
Keith Sharon,
Nashville Tennessean,
9 Nov. 2025
-
The Cake Wedding cake orders are often placed later in the wedding planning process, sometimes just three weeks before the event, and can cost $540 on average, according to the Knot.—
Vanessa Yurkevich,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
That came just a few days after news broke that Palantir had secured a $10 billion contract from the US Army over the next decade.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
7 Aug. 2025
-
All five of Bednar’s outs came via strikeout on Wednesday.—
Brendan Kuty,
New York Times,
7 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Was.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/was. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
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