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Ago vs Previous - What's the difference?

ago | previous |

As adjectives the difference between ago and previous

is that ago is gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away while previous is prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.

As a preposition ago

is in the past.

As a noun previous is

an existing criminal record; short for "previous convictions".

ago

English

Alternative forms

* ygo (obsolete), ygoe (obsolete), agon (obsolete), agone

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (archaic, or, dialectal) Gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away.
    • in days ago'''/in days '''agone
  • (archaic, or, dialectal) Nearly gone; dead (used in )''

    • Usage notes

    * Usually follows the noun.

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • In the past.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Damned if you don’t , passage=Two years ago a pair of scientists sparked fears of a devastating virus. [They] separately found ways to make a strain of bird flu called H5N1 more contagious. Critics fretted that terrorists might use this knowledge to cook up a biological weapon. American officials ordered that the papers be redacted. Further research was put on hold. But after much debate, the papers were published in full last year.}}

    Derived terms

    * long ago

    See also

    * (projectlink)

    References

    * G. A. Cooke, The County of Devon

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English postpositions English three-letter words 1000 English basic words ----

    previous

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
  • * Thomson
    • The dull sound previous to the storm, / Rolls o'er the muttering earth.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.}}
    He is no better than the previous Prime Minister.
  • (informal)  Premature; occurring too soon.
    • I thought that I had solved the problem, but I was a bit previous .

    Synonyms

    * former * late * old * See also

    Antonyms

    * future * following * next * succeeding

    Noun

    (-)
  • (informal, UK) An existing criminal record; short for "previous convictions".
    • It turned out the shoplifter had a lot of previous .
  • * November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, " Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
    • For that Smalling will have to do his time grazing in the scapegoat’s paddock because his contribution here supplied hard evidence of a player lacking the football intelligence that is needed at the highest level. He has previous on that front and it is difficult to find any mitigation for the way he scythed down James Milner when the first rule for a defender on a yellow card is not to dive in unless it is absolutely necessary.

    Anagrams

    * *