Topic Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus

The Past (Retrospective time)

Nouns
  • the past, past time
  • days of yore, times of yore, days of old, times of old, days past, times past, days gone by, times gone by
  • bygone days
  • old times, ancient times, former times
  • fore time
  • the good old days, the olden time, good old time
  • auld lang syne
  • eld. antiquity, antiqueness, status quo
  • time immemorial
  • distance of time
  • remote age, remote time
  • remote past
  • rust of antiquity. [study of the past] paleontology, paleography, paleology
  • paleozoology
  • palaetiology, archaeology
  • paleogeography
  • paleoecology
  • paleobotany
  • paleoclimatoogy
  • archaism, antiquarianism, medievalism, Pre-Raphaelitism
  • paleography. retrospect, retrospection, looking back
  • medievalist, Pre-Raphaelite
  • antiquary, antiquarian
  • archmologist etc.
  • Oldbuck, Dryasdust. ancestry etc. (paternity) Paternity.
Verbs
  • be past etc. adj.
  • have expired etc. adj., have run its course, have had its day
  • pass
  • pass by, go by, pass away, go away, pass off, go off
  • lapse, blow over. look back, trace back, cast the eyes back
  • exhume.
Adjectives
  • past, gone, gone by, over, passed away, bygone, foregone
  • elapsed, lapsed, preterlapsed, expired, no more, run out, blown over, has-been, that has been, extinct, antediluvian, antebellum, never to return, gone with the wind, exploded, forgotten, irrecoverable
  • obsolete etc. (old) Oldness. former, pristine, quondam, late
  • ancestral. foregoing
  • last, latter
  • recent, over night
  • preterperfect, preterpluperfect. looking back etc. v.
  • retrospective, retroactive
  • archaeological etc. n..
Adverbs
  • paleo-
  • archaeo-
  • formerly
  • of old, of yore
  • whilom, erewhile, time was, ago, over
  • in the olden time etc. n.
  • anciently, long ago, long since
  • a long while, a long time ago
  • years ago, yesteryear, ages ago
  • some time ago, some time since, some time back. yesterday, the day before yesterday
  • last year, ultimo
  • lately etc. (newly) Newness. retrospectively
  • ere now, before now, till now
  • hitherto, heretofore
  • no longer
  • once, once upon a time
  • from time immemorial, from prehistoric times
  • in the memory of man
  • time out of mind
  • already, yet, up to this time
  • ex post facto.
Phrases
  • time was
  • the time has been, the time hath been
  • you can't go home again
  • O call back yesterday, bid time return" [Richard II]
  • what's past is prologue" [Tempest]
  • whose yesterdays look backward with a smile" [Young].