Word.ws English Dictionary

before times

before times noun: the period of time before a defining, often apocalyptic event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Noun

before times pl (plural only)

  1. (humorous, plural, plural-only, sometimes) The period of time before a defining, often apocalyptic event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • The planters refer mournfully to the "before times," by which they describe the old slave days, and contrast them with the hard lines of the present. It is possible that the condition of the negroes has been improved by emancipation, but the state of the owners has greatly deteriorated.1884, James McQuade, The cruise of the Montauk to Bermuda, the West Indies and Florida, page 331
    • Defrag remembers a time when a new Star Wars movie was cause for excitement and rejoicing. We even remember going to the cinemas at midnight just to catch the Special Edition re-releases at the earliest possible moment. But those were happier times, more innocent times — the Before Times. Before...2002 February 19, Kerrie Murphy, “Defrag”, in The Australian, Canberra, page C.10

Examples of before times in a sentence

  • But those were happier times, more innocent times — the Before Times.2002 February 19, Kerrie Murphy, “Defrag”, in The Australian, Canberra, page C.10:
  • Priash looked away and added, “I also found books that describe the before times in a completely different way.2013, Nicholas P. Oakley, The Watcher, See Sharp Press, →ISBN:
  • When you tell your kids someday about the ancient art of "concerts" in the before times, please make the chair standers the villains of your story.2020 August 31, “Everything Wrong With Phineas and Ferb "Dude, We're Getting The Band Back Together!"” (01:42 from the start), in TV Sins...
  • We all want to be taken back to the “before times,” where you could blow spitballs from the bushes or share an ice cream cone with a stranger […]2020 December 14, Tala Schlossberg, “An Ode to the Before Times”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Questions about before times

What does before times mean?
Before times means the period of time before a defining, often apocalyptic event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
How do you use before times in a sentence?
But those were happier times, more innocent times — the Before Times.
What part of speech is before times?
Before times is a noun.

Words near before times in the dictionary

  1. before someone's time
  2. before the fact
  3. before the ink had time to dry
  4. before the ink was dry
  5. before the mast
  6. before times
  7. before you can say Jack Robertson
  8. before you can say Jack Robinson
  9. before you can say knife
  10. before't
  11. before-and-after

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: before times (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.

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