the past
History's entire domain
The past is the period of time that has already occurred—everything before the present moment.
It functions as history on both personal and collective scales: She doesn't like to talk about the past.
The phrase often carries emotional weight, suggesting experiences that shaped who someone is or events best left behind: That's all in the past now.
In grammar, the past refers to verb tenses indicating completed action.
- annalsYear-by-year historical account
- letterWritten symbol or message
- archivesStored historical documents
- legacyWhat's passed down
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
bygone · dust · yore · days gone by · time immemorial · long ago · archaeology · nostalgia · faded memories · sepia · history · ancient history · ancestry · tradition · folklore · memoirs · hindsight · relics
- pastago, before, once, previously, prior
- memoriesmemories, remember, recollections, childhood memory, childhood memories
- memoryremember, forget, recall, memorize, recollect
- nostalgianostalgia, nostalgic, memories, memory, remember
temporal immediacy
the pastthe present
Current moment in time
now · the here and now · today · contemporaneity · actuality