a thing of the past
29
3.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
cosa del pasado
- With the rise of smartphones, traditional landlines are a thing of the past.
- become a thing of the past
- now a thing of the past
- largely a thing of the past
Phone calls are a thing of the past, it feels like.
- Phone calls are a thing of the past, it feels like.
- Eternity Magazine has now become a thing of the past.
- Thus, again, it might be asked, with the appearance of collective scientific labs and teams, is the solitary genius a thing of the past?
- Procrastination is a thing of the past with this beautiful sipper.
- Untrimmed pubic hair are a thing of the past.
Examples
-
Many people believe that written letters are becoming a thing of the past in the digital age.
-
Charity is a thing of the past.
-
Phone calls are a thing of the past, it feels like.
-
If what they wanted was privacy, that would be a thing of the past.
Fiction book (1992) -
And these exceptional circumstances are now a thing of the past.
Academic text (2009) -
Traffic jams will be a thing of the past.
-
Ancient rivalries and struggles for power are seen as becoming a thing of the past.
Academic text (1991) -
Standardized mass production, according to Mitchell, should become a thing of the past.
Academic text (2000) -
I'm telling you, true commitment's a thing of the past.
-
His adolescent dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker was a thing of the past.
Synonyms
87
6.8
A person who was famous or successful but no longer is
33
6.7
Something from the past that is no longer important
9
4.4
A past event or fact that many people no longer care about
8
3.9
Something that happened in the past and is no longer important
2
7.2
An object, custom, or idea from long ago that seems out of date
1
7.7
A law or rule that is no longer enforced
Antonyms
How Current
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'something that no longer exists or is no longer used' is directly derivable from 'thing' (an object/entity) combined with 'of the past' (belonging to or originating in earlier time), so the phrase compositionally means 'a thing from the past' = obsolete. This noun + of + time pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
A thing of the past paints a picture of a thing put away into the past, like an old tool left on a shelf long ago. That's why it means 'something that no longer exists or is no longer used'.