not long ago
In recent memory
Not long ago means in the recent past, though the exact timeframe is vague and context-dependent.
It might refer to days, weeks, or even years, depending on the scale being discussed: Not long ago, this was all farmland.
The phrase emphasizes that something feels temporally close, even if the calendar disagrees.
- recentlyIn the near past
- latelyIn recent times
- just nowThe immediate past
- earlierAt a prior time
- yesterdayThe previous day
last week · fresh · new · current · modern · previous · prior · past · back when · remembered · in living memory · lingering · echoing · fading · the other day · shortly · newly · freshly
- recent pastyesterday, last week, last month, this morning, last night
- futureforthcoming, upcoming, coming, impending, imminent
- nostalgianostalgia, nostalgic, memories, memory, remember
not long agolong ago
In the distant past
ages ago · a long time ago · eons ago · way back when · back in the day
not long agosomeday
Vague future time
eventually · down the road · one day · years from now · in the long run
not, long, ago, knot, nought, longer, longest, length, lengthen