Yesteryear

//ˈjɛstərjɪər// adv, noun

adv, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Past years; time gone by; yore. countable, poetic, uncountable
"To be old here, is to be respectable, and time-honored is the epithet most coveted. You see no sign of the doings of yesterday or yesteryear: the new is careful of obtruding itself, and comes into the world under matronage of the old."
2
the time that has elapsed wordnet
3
Last year. countable, rare, uncountable

Adverb

1
In past years. not-comparable, poetic
"Was it yesteryear or centuries ago that the Orient Express thundered over that narrow, glistening channel and linked the Golden Horn to the Seine?"

Synonyms

past bygone days bygone times days gone by dead past eld

Example

"But where are the snows of yesteryear?"

Etymology

From yester- + year.

Related phrases

where are the snows of yesteryear

More for "yesteryear"

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