Current vs. Past

Currentnoun

The part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction.

Pastnoun

The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.

‘a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past’;

Currentnoun

(electricity) The time rate of flow of electric charge.

Pastnoun

(grammar) The past tense.

Currentnoun

A tendency or a course of events.

Pastadjective

Having already happened; in the past; finished.

‘past glories’;

Currentadjective

Existing or occurring at the moment.

‘current events;’; ‘current leaders;’; ‘current negotiations’;

Pastadjective

(postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.

Currentadjective

Generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment.

‘current affairs;’; ‘current bills and coins;’; ‘current fashions’;

Pastadjective

Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.

‘during the past year’;

Currentadjective

(obsolete) Running or moving rapidly.

Pastadjective

(grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state.

‘past tense’;

Currentadjective

Running or moving rapidly.

‘Like the current fire, that rennethUpon a cord.’; ‘To chase a creature that was current thenIn these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.’;

Pastadverb

in a direction that passes

‘I watched him walk past’;

Currentadjective

Now passing, as time; as, the current month.

Pastadverb

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.’;

Currentadjective

Passing from person to person, or from hand to hand; circulating through the community; generally received; common; as, a current coin; a current report; current history.

‘That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt.’; ‘Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.’; ‘His current value, which is less or more as men have occasion for him.’;

Pastpreposition

beyond in place, quantity or time

‘the room past mine’; ‘count past twenty’; ‘past midnight’;

Currentadjective

Commonly estimated or acknowledged.

Pastadjective

Of or pertaining to a former time or state; neither present nor future; gone by; elapsed; ended; spent; as, past troubles; past offences.

Currentadjective

Fitted for general acceptance or circulation; authentic; passable.

‘O Buckingham, now do I play the touchTo try if thou be current gold indeed.’;

Pastnoun

A former time or state; a state of things gone by.

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

Currentnoun

A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion; as, a current of electricity.

‘Two such silver currents, when they join,Do glorify the banks that bound them in.’; ‘The surface of the ocean is furrowed by currents, whose direction . . . the navigator should know.’;

Pastpreposition

Beyond, in position, or degree; further than; beyond the reach or influence of.

‘Until we be past thy borders.’; ‘Love, when once past government, is consequently past shame.’;

Currentnoun

General course; ordinary procedure; progressive and connected movement; as, the current of time, of events, of opinion, etc.

Pastpreposition

Beyond, in time; after; as, past the hour.

‘Is it not past two o'clock?’;

Currentnoun

a flow of electricity through a conductor;

‘the current was measured in amperes’;

Pastpreposition

Above; exceeding; more than.

‘Not past three quarters of a mile.’; ‘Bows not past three quarters of a yard long.’;

Currentnoun

a steady flow (usually from natural causes);

‘the raft floated downstream on the current’; ‘he felt a stream of air’;

Pastadverb

By; beyond; as, he ran past.

‘The alarum of drums swept past.’;

Currentnoun

dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas;

‘two streams of development run through American history’; ‘stream of consciousness’; ‘the flow of thought’; ‘the current of history’;

Pastnoun

the time that has elapsed;

‘forget the past’;

Currentadjective

occurring in or belonging to the present time;

‘current events’; ‘the current topic’; ‘current negotiations’; ‘current psychoanalytic theories’; ‘the ship's current position’;

Pastnoun

a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret);

‘reporters dug into the candidate's past’;

Currentadjective

belonging to the present time; happening or being used or done now

‘keep abreast of current events’; ‘I started my current job in 2001’;

Pastnoun

a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past

Currentadjective

in common or general use

‘the other meaning of the word is still current’;

Pastadjective

earlier than the present time; no longer current;

‘time past’; ‘his youth is past’; ‘this past Thursday’; ‘the past year’; ‘the present leader’; ‘articles for present use’; ‘the present topic’; ‘the present system’; ‘present observations’;

Currentnoun

a body of water or air moving in a definite direction, especially through a surrounding body of water or air in which there is less movement

‘ocean currents’;

Pastadjective

of a person who has held and relinquished a position or office;

‘a retiring member of the board’;

Currentnoun

a flow of electricity which results from the ordered directional movement of electrically charged particles

‘this completes the circuit so that a current flows to the lamp’; ‘magnetic fields are produced by currents flowing in the cables’;

Pastadjective

a verb tense or other construction referring to events or states that existed at some previous time;

‘past participle’;

Currentnoun

a quantity representing the rate of flow of electric charge, usually measured in amperes

‘at high currents there is wasteful power dissipation’;

Pastadverb

so as to pass a given point;

‘every hour a train goes past’;

Currentnoun

the general tendency or course of events or opinion

‘the student movement formed a distinct current of protest’;

Past

The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future.