Word
bygone
Phoneticsby·gone
US/ˈbaɪˌɡɔn/
UK/bˈaɪɡɒn/
Definition
adj. describing something that is no longer around or is in the past. You use it to talk about things that are old or have disappeared.
adj. relating to the past or having ceased to exist. Often used to describe a period or a way of life that is no longer current.
Examples
“The old factory is a bygone era of heavy industry.”
“Walking through the old town, I felt like I was stepping into a bygone world of simpler times.”
“The bygone days of the gold rush have long since faded, replaced by a modern economy that relies on technology rather than manual labor.”
Examples
simple
“The old factory is a bygone era of heavy industry.”
contextual
“Walking through the old town, I felt like I was stepping into a bygone world of simpler times.”
complex
“The bygone days of the gold rush have long since faded, replaced by a modern economy that relies on technology rather than manual labor.”
Real-World Examples
“This mourning for a bygone era is a mourning for a time when Chinese families felt that if they worked hard, their lives would improve.” “Palaeoanthropology must regain its glory as a science that’s not only about bones, but that’s an ethological, cultural, and social study of bygone human societies.” Etymology
From by (adverb) + gone.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Idioms
let bygones be bygones — To disregard or ignore a past difficulty in a relationship or an offence (when dealing with another individual).
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/bygone