Yesterday

//ˈjɛstədeɪ// adv, noun, slang

adv, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The day immediately before today; one day ago.

    "Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow."

  2. 2
    the day immediately before today wordnet
  3. 3
    The past, often in terms of being outdated. figuratively

    "yesterday's technology"

  4. 4
    the recent past wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    On the day before today. not-comparable

    "I started to watch the video yesterday, but could only finish it this evening."

  2. 2
    As soon as possible. informal, not-comparable

    "I want this done yesterday!"

Adverb
  1. 1
    on the day preceding today wordnet
  2. 2
    in the recent past; only a short time ago wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aforetimeat the minutebeforebefore nowbeforetimebygone days

Example

More examples

"The day before yesterday you impressed everyone, but I already knew you."

Etymology

From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, ȝisterdai, from Old English ġiestrandæġ, ġister dæġ, ġestor dæġ, ġeostran dæġ (“yesterday”), by surface analysis, yester- + day. Cognate with Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Saterland Frisian jässendeeg, järsendeges (“yesterday”, adverb), West Frisian justerdei (“yesterday”), Dutch gisterdag (“yesterday”), dialectal German gestertag (“yesterday”), Swedish gårdag (“yesterday”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren (“yesterday”), German gestern (“yesterday”).

Related phrases

born yesterdayday before yesterdayremember like it was yesterdayyesterday but oneyesterday is goneyesterday nightyesterday-today-and-tomorrowyesterday-today-tomorrowlast nighttomorrow night

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.