Earlier (4 letters)

{ Answer }

PAST

{ Related Clues }

Beyond
Gone by
History
History, with "the"
Onetime
Over
Previous
One of the tenses
After the hour
Certain Christmas
Days of yore
Former life
Future of the present
Future's opposite
Historian's concern
Historian's subject
Kind of tense
Prologue, perhaps
Prologue's antecedent
All our yesterdays
Sandburg's "bucket of ashes"
"Every saint has a ___": Oscar Wilde

{ Tags }

all, ashes, be, beyond, bucket, bygone, christmas, days, former, futures, gone, historians, history, kind, opposite, over, past, tense, tenses, what, yesterdays

{ Notes }

The answer PAST is seen frequently, appearing about once every 110 puzzles.

{ Definition }

PAST as a noun:

1. (past, past times, yesteryear, yore) = the time that has elapsed; "forget the past"

2. a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret); "reporters dug into the candidate's past"

3. (past, past tense) = a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past

PAST as an adjective:

1. earlier than the present time; no longer current; "time past"; "his youth is past"; "this past Thursday"; "the past year"

2. (past, preceding, retiring) = of a person who has held and relinquished a position or office; "a retiring member of the board"

3. a verb tense or other construction referring to events or states that existed at some previous time; "past participle"

PAST as an adverb:

1. (by, past) = so as to pass a given point; "every hour a train goes past"