past prime
No longer best
Past prime describes something or someone that has declined from their peak condition, performance, or desirability.
An athlete past their prime no longer competes at their best level.
Produce past its prime has begun to soften or wilt.
The phrase often carries a note of gentle decline rather than total obsolescence: The car is past its prime but still runs fine.
He's past his prime as a striker, but his experience makes him valuable.
- fadedLost original color
- seen better daysDeteriorated from former condition
- wiltedLimp from dehydration
- overripePast optimal freshness
- decliningDecreasing in strength
on the decline · aging · long in the tooth · waning · stale · expired · worn · worse for wear · dated · peaked · dimmed · weathered · tired · spent · sagging · withered · yesterday · twilight
- washed-uphas-been, over the hill, played out, finished, done
- ripenessripe, unripe, overripe, underripe, green
- agingaging process, aging body, biological age, aging workforce, aging parents
- age descriptorsaged, elderly, old, young, youthful
- spoiledrotten, rotted, rotting, spoiled, spoiling
past primeup-and-coming
Likely to succeed soon
rising · ascending · on the rise · coming into one's own · emerging
past primeflourishing
Prospering vigorously
thriving · peaking · firing on all cylinders · vigorous · fresh
past, prime, pass, passed, passing, primal, primer, primary, primarily