different between past vs retrodiction

English

Etymology

From Middle English, past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”), whence Modern English pass.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: päst, IPA^(key): /p??st/
• (US) enPR: p?st, IPA^(key): /pæst/
• Homophone: passed
• Rhymes: -æst, -??st

Noun

past (plural pasts)

1. The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
   • 1830, Daniel Webster, a speech

     The past, at least, is secure.

   • 1860, Richard Chenevix Trench, On the English Language, Past and Present

     The present is only intelligible in the light of the past, often a very remote past indeed.

2. (grammar) The past tense.

Synonyms

• (period of time that has already happened): foretime, yestertide; see also Thesaurus:the past

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• preterite

Adjective

past (comparative more past, superlative most past)

1. Having already happened; in the past; finished. [from 14th c.]

2. (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago. [from 15th c.]
   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 538:

     That had been, what, three years past?

   • 2009, John Sadler, Glencoe, Amberley 2009, page 20:

     Some four decades past, as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].

3. Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous. [from 15th c.]

4. (grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state. [from 18th c.]

Synonyms

• (having already happened): bygone, foregone; see also Thesaurus:past
• (having just gone by): foregone, preceding, used-to-be; see also Thesaurus:former

Translations

Adverb

past (comparative more past, superlative most past)

1. In a direction that passes.

   Synonym: by

   I watched him walk past

Translations

Preposition

past

1. Beyond in place or quantity

   the room past mine

   count past twenty

2. (time) Any number of minutes after the last hour

   What's the time? - It's now quarter past twelve midday (or 12.15pm).

   Antonym: to
3. No longer capable of.

   I'm past caring what he thinks of me.

4. Having recovered or moved on from (a traumatic experience, etc.).
5. Passing by, especially without stopping or being delayed.

   Ignore them, we'll play past them.

   Please don't drive past the fruit stand, I want to stop there.

Derived terms

• see past the end of one's nose

Translations

Verb

past

1. (obsolete) simple past tense and past participle of pass
   • 1632, John Vicars, The XII Aeneids of Virgil

     Great Tuscane dames, as she their towns past by, / Wisht her their daughter-in-law, but frustrately.

Related terms

• past master
• past it
• run past
• slip one past
• sneak past
• talk past

Anagrams

• APTS, APTs, ATSP, PATs, PSAT, PTAs, PTSA, TAPs, TPAs, Taps, ap'ts, apts, pats, spat, stap, taps

Czech

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /past/
• Rhymes: -ast

Noun

past f

1. trap (a device designed to catch and sometimes kill animals)

Declension

Derived terms

• pasti?ka

See also

• lé?ka
• záloha
• nástraha
• úskalí

Further reading

• past in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• past in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Anagrams

• spát
• psát

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?st
• IPA^(key): /p?st/

Verb

past

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of passen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of passen

Anagrams

• spat, stap, taps

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French past, from Latin pastus (“pasture”).

Noun

past m (plural pasts)

1. food, meal

Old French

Etymology

From Latin pastus (“pasture”), probably influenced by paste (“dough, pastry”).

Alternative forms

• paist, pest, pas

Noun

past m (nominative singular past)

1. food, meal

Descendants

• Middle French: past

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /past/

Noun

past f

1. genitive plural of pasta

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pá?st/

Noun

p?st f

1. trap

Inflection

Verb

p?st

1. supine of pásti

Further reading

• “past”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

English

Etymology

Blend of retro- +? prediction

Noun

retrodiction (countable and uncountable, plural retrodictions)

1. A form of "prediction" that deals with the past rather than the future, sometimes useful in testing theories whose actual predictions are too long-term to be of immediate use.

Synonyms

• postdiction