Yesterday Definition & Meaning

American

British

Idioms

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Synonyms yesterday American [yes-ter-dey, -dee] / ˈyɛs tərˌdeɪ, -di /

adverb

1. on the day preceding this day.

2. a short time ago.

   Yesterday your money went further.

noun

1. the day preceding this day.

2. time in the immediate past.

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the day before or to a time in the immediate past.

   yesterday morning.

yesterday British / -ˌdeɪ, ˈjɛstədɪ /

noun

1. the day immediately preceding today

2. (often plural) the recent past

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

1. on or during the day before today

2. in the recent past

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 yesterday Idioms

1. see not born yesterday.

Other Word Forms

• yesterdayness noun

Etymology

Origin of yesterday

before 950; Middle English; Old English geostran dæg. See yester-, day

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some as though I had only met them yesterday.

From BBC

“Most recently, yesterday, I was sued by an immigration judge who we fired,” she said Dec. 2.

From Los Angeles Times

“It’s the very first thing that we all sat down yesterday and graded ourselves on — was our habits, our communication and our shape,” Redick said.

From Los Angeles Times

"I talked to our neighbour who said there was no gunfire since yesterday," Saichon, 38, told AFP, adding that her family would evacuate again if necessary.

From Barron's

"I was in the theatre yesterday and just in awe of the surgeons operating here - the knowledge base and the work that it must have taken to get there."

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.