- past
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 time before the presentADJECTIVE▪ immediate, recent▪ ancient, dim and distant (BrE), distant, remote▪
Many modern festivals can be traced back to an ancient past.
▪It all happened in the distant past.
VERB + PAST▪ cling to, live in, relive▪We're going to have to stop living in the past and invest in new technology if the company is to survive.
▪ reconstruct, recreate▪Archaeology provides us with tools for reconstructing the past.
▪ erase, forget▪ belong in, belong to▪Those memories belong to the past and I don't want to think about them.
PREPOSITION▪ from the past▪Memories from the past came flooding back to him.
▪ in the past▪I admit that I have made mistakes in the past.
▪ into the past▪events stretching back many years into the past
▪ of the past▪great artists of the past
PHRASES▪ be all in the past▪Don't worry about it—it's all in the past now.
▪ a break with the past▪In an effort to make a complete break with the past, she went to live in Morocco.
▪ a glimpse of the past▪The uncovering of the buried town gives us a unique glimpse of the past.
▪ a link with the past▪The old market is a living link with the past, unchanged for hundreds of years.
▪ nostalgia for the past▪ a thing of the past▪a new device that makes such problems a thing of the past
2 sb/sth's historyADJECTIVE▪ historic (esp. BrE), historical▪ forgotten▪He was forced to confront his forgotten past.
▪ colourful/colorful, rich▪ chequered/checkered, murky (esp. BrE), painful, sordid, troubled▪ mysterious▪ criminal▪ glorious, illustrious (esp. BrE)▪Few remnants remain of the city's glorious past.
▪ cultural, political▪ ancestral, evolutionary▪ colonial, imperial, industrial▪These customs are a relic of the country's colonial past.
VERB + PAST▪ reflect on▪ recapture▪He tried in vain to recapture his past.
▪ erase, escape from, forget, put behind you, wipe out▪Political parties cannot escape from their pasts any more than individuals can.
▪Therapy helped Dan put the past behind him.
PREPOSITION▪ from your past▪ghosts from his past
▪ in your past▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}at some time in her past
adj.Past is used with these nouns: ↑autumn, ↑century, ↑champion, ↑decade, ↑deed, ↑epoch, ↑era, ↑error, ↑experience, ↑failure, ↑fall, ↑fortnight, ↑generation, ↑history, ↑incident, ↑life, ↑mistake, ↑month, ↑precedent, ↑president, ↑quarter, ↑record, ↑research, ↑self, ↑sin, ↑spring, ↑summer, ↑tense, ↑week, ↑winter, ↑wrong, ↑year
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
