ago

UK/əˈɡəʊ//əˈɡoʊ/

ago postp: before now, before the present time.

Postp

ago

Before now, before the present time
- I got married ten years ago.
- When they first met in 2000, my dad told my mom how he had gotten the money. The story begins 20 years ago.

Adjective

ago (not comparable)

(archaic, dialectal) Gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away.
- in days ago / in days agone
(archaic, dialectal) Nearly gone; dead. (used in Devonshire at the turn of the 19th century)
- Woe the day—she is agone!

Proper noun capitalized: AGO

AGO

(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Attorney General's Office.

ago meaning in Hindi, Malayalam, Arabic and Malay

ago in Hindi

past; gone by; since: पहले pahle, बहुत पहले bahut pahle

ago in Malayalam

past; gone by; since: മുമ്പ് mumpŭ

ago in Arabic

past; gone by; since: قَبْلَ qabla

ago in Malay

past; gone by; since: lalu, lepas

More languagesFewer languages

ago in Indonesian: yang lalu
ago in Persian: پیش piš, قبل qabl
ago in Thai: แล้ว lɛ́ɛo, ก่อน gɔ̀ɔn, แต่ก่อน dtɛ̀ɛ-gɔ̀ɔn, ที่แล้ว tîi-lɛ́ɛo
ago in Vietnamese: trước đây

Examples of ago in a sentence

It was two weeks ago that I saw her last.
Two years ago a pair of scientists sparked fears of a devastating virus.2013 August 10, “Damned if you don’t”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

All 40 example sentences with ago

Forms of ago

alternative form (obsolete)	agoe
alternative form (obsolete)	agon
alternative form (obsolete)	agone
alternative form (obsolete)	ygo
alternative form (obsolete)	ygoe

Origin of ago

From Middle English ago, agon (“passed”), past participle of agon (“to depart, escape, pass”), from Old English āgān (“to go away, pass away, go forth, come to pass”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”), *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to a- + gone, and by surface analysis, a- + go. Cognate with German ergehen (“to come to pass, fare, go forth”). Compare also Old Saxon āgangan (“to go or pass by”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (usgaggan, “to go forth”).

Words formed from ago

Phrases with ago

Words that rhyme with ago

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ago

What does ago mean?: Ago means before now, before the present time.
What is ago in Hindi?: Ago in Hindi is पहले (pahle), बहुत पहले (bahut pahle). See Ago meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ago in a sentence?: It was two weeks ago that I saw her last.
What part of speech is ago?: Ago can be a postp, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ago?: Ago is pronounced /əˈɡəʊ/ (UK).

Words near ago in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: ago (page history and authors); AGO (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ago.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ago.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ago. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.