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
During the morning low tide, while there was still a small stretch of sand, excavators were working to pile large rip-rap boulders next to the base of the crumbling Pacifica Pier.
—
John Ramos, CBS News, 16 June 2026
While there was movement on the bases for both starters, the game lulled until the seventh.
—Liana Handler
follow, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2026
There was also Tortorella’s stubbornness in sticking with goalie Carter Hart, who set the wrong type of records in the Stanley Cup Final.
—Jesse Granger, New York Times, 16 June 2026
There was just so much anger, so much hurt, so much pain from both ends.
—Sarah Sotoodeh , Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026
But there was this paradox in this basic idea that this menacing, nihilistic person [Nile Jarvis] actually infuses her with life.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 15 June 2026
And yet, there was a very real chance that the night wouldn’t happen at all.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 15 June 2026
For organizers, there was no more fitting place to begin the centennial celebration.
—Daily News, 9 June 2026
There was an additional complication.
—Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
John Ramos, CBS News, 16 June 2026
While there was movement on the bases for both starters, the game lulled until the seventh.
—Liana Handler
follow, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2026
There was also Tortorella’s stubbornness in sticking with goalie Carter Hart, who set the wrong type of records in the Stanley Cup Final.
—Jesse Granger, New York Times, 16 June 2026
There was just so much anger, so much hurt, so much pain from both ends.
—Sarah Sotoodeh , Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026
But there was this paradox in this basic idea that this menacing, nihilistic person [Nile Jarvis] actually infuses her with life.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 15 June 2026
And yet, there was a very real chance that the night wouldn’t happen at all.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 15 June 2026
For organizers, there was no more fitting place to begin the centennial celebration.
—Daily News, 9 June 2026
There was an additional complication.
—Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for was
Verb
-
There’s so many things happening at the same time, which is appropriate for a character that’s lived over 200 years and is an amalgamation of everybody else’s perception of him.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 June 2026
-
Jacobs lived at a period of dramatic ecological change, and old-growth forests were fewer and farther between.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
The Senegalese goalkeeper leapt in the air and extended his body and stood absolutely no chance.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
17 June 2026
-
The Jordanian fans in their white shirts stood proud, celebrating their country’s first World Cup appearance at one end, while the red wall of the Austrians bore down on them from the other.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
17 June 2026
Verb
-
Our editorial team has ranked the most influential companies and protocols in the digital asset ecosystem—from crypto-native pioneers like Coinbase and Uniswap to Wall Street giants like JPMorgan and BlackRock.—
Diane Brady,
Fortune,
11 June 2026
-
The only project ranked lower is Queen Cleopatra, which became controversial over its casting of a Black actress as Cleopatra and ended up with a 3% audience score.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
Then, in what has happened in just about every game this series, that goal kicked off a feverish Vegas push that resulted in several scoring chances.—
Matt Reigle,
FOXNews.com,
12 June 2026
-
Here's what happened after Monday's game, and what the two said.—
Amethyst Martinez,
USA Today,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
Long before supermarkets existed (and even before refrigeration existed), markets were gathering places where locals went to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, meat, cheeses, and much more.—
Laura Itzkowitz,
Travel + Leisure,
16 June 2026
-
For biotech founders and investors, that creates a stronger exit market than existed a year or two ago – but not necessarily a simple one.—
Elsa Ohlen,
CNBC,
16 June 2026
Verb
-
Freese sat alone outside the box.—
Paul Tenorio,
New York Times,
7 July 2025
-
Dugan sat between Biskupic and another lawyer, Jason Luczak.—
John Diedrich,
jsonline.com,
7 July 2025
Verb
-
Eager to avoid losing Mbappe for nothing the following summer, he was placed on the transfer list in the summer of 2023 and excluded from PSG’s pre-season tour to Japan.—
Tom Burrows,
New York Times,
12 Dec. 2025
-
Detectives also compared cellphone location records from Miner’s and Johnson’s phones, which placed Miner at the crime scene when the shooting occurred and showed that his movements were nearly identical to Johnson’s movements in the minutes leading up to the shooting, police said.—
Amy McDaniel,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
11 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
The incident came 15 months after a cougar fatally mauled an El Dorado County man and severely injured his brother, the first fatal mountain lion attack in California in 20 years, according to previous Bee reporting.—
Sean Campbell,
Sacbee.com,
25 June 2025
-
The outage came just an hour before polls closed in New York’s Democratic primary.—
Evan Simko-Bednarski,
New York Daily News,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Was.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/was. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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