How to use previous in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective, noun
Previous means prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order. Example: “He is no better than the previous Prime Minister.”
Examples of previous by meaning
adjectivePrior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
- He is no better than the previous Prime Minister.
- They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- Putin’s answered by simply stating he did not believe Ukraine had honored the previous ceasefires Moscow had unilaterally called, and that Kyiv has said Moscow never respected either.2025 May 10, Nick Paton Walsh, “Ukraine ceasefire call is aimed at forcing Putin to reveal his war goals to Trump”, in CNN
adjectivePremature; acting or occurring too soon.
- I was a bit previous it turned out, as I worked short-handed for ten days before I could find another hand.2010, Gerald Lynch, Roughnecks, Drillers, and Tool Pushers
nounAn existing criminal record (short for "previous convictions").
- It turned out the shoplifter had a lot of previous.
- Simmons had eight previouses: robberies, burglaries, a couple of felonious assaults.1994, William J. Caunitz, Three complete novels: Black Sand; Suspects; One Police Plaza
nounA track record of similar behaviour, especially bad behaviour.
- Mitigation will be limited given his previous and as he has already attended tackle school he cannot return.2023-08-13, Gerard Meagher, “Owen Farrell’s red card likely to put England’s World Cup plans in disarray”, in The Guardian
nounA record of previous hostility or conflict (between people).
- The two players refused to shake hands — there's a bit of previous there.
More sentences with previous
- The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.From the entry stem
- The previous wall outlet tests at their colo facility ran for 6 days straight without issue.From the entry colo
- After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John.From the entry scant
- Since they've changed the standards again, our previous efforts now just amount to a fire drill.From the entry fire drill
- He was courting big new accounts that previous salesmen had not attempted.From the entry court
- After being defeated in three previous finals, Roger finally tasted triumph at this year's competition.From the entry triumph
- We are unwilling to restore his previous privileges after his betrayal of our trust.From the entry unwilling
- The Tuesday meetings are only thirty minutes now. That proclamation was made in the previous meeting.From the entry proclamation
- Home sales remained steady, although running slightly below the previous month's heady pace.From the entry heady
- Compared to the previous semester, my grades now are a lot stronger.From the entry stronger
- The new study addresses the blind spot created by previous research having excluded healthy adult subjects.From the entry blind spot
- He got clearance to travel to America, even though he had previous links to terrorists.From the entry clearance
- The previous presentation ran over and ours had to start late.From the entry run over
- We felt confident about our previous theory, but the results of the latest experiments don't fit in.From the entry fit in
- I died just before I reached the savepoint and had to repeat everything from my previous save.From the entry savepoint
- His renouncement of his previous position, once it had proved unpopular, did not help his candidacy.From the entry renouncement
- The previous owners had walled off two rooms, making an apartment.From the entry wall off
- His comments to the press were in the same carping vein as in previous speeches.From the entry in the same vein
- The runner's final time in the record-breaking speedrun was even faster than her previous sum of best.From the entry sum of best
- Her latest book has already outsold her previous works.From the entry outsell
- The condo was stripped clean by the previous tenant.From the entry clean
- He said he didn't get any sleep last night and I know he hadn't gotten much the previous night.From the entry last night
- Last year’s applications received from new and returning students were more than each of the previous four years.From the entry more
- Do not award marks for data from previous questions.From the entry award
- The apartment was stripped clean by the previous tenants.From the entry strip
- The crown descends to the heir of the previous monarch.From the entry descend
- Please see the attached file in my previous email.From the entry attached
- The young attorneys were set the task of collating the contract submitted by the other side with the previous copy.From the entry collate
- He received glowing references from his previous employers.From the entry glowing
- She grilled him over his whereabouts the previous night.From the entry grilled
- I had a mixed community aquarium with several tetras, two mollies, some corydoras catfish, and a platy from a previous tank.From the entry platy
- A race condition in writing my guest book file meant that the last person to sign wiped out all previous signatures.From the entry race condition
Meaning of previous
- adjective Prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
- adjective Premature; acting or occurring too soon.
- noun An existing criminal record (short for "previous convictions").
Questions about previous in a sentence
- How do you use previous in a sentence?
- Previous is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “He is no better than the previous Prime Minister.”
- What is a short sentence with previous?
- “He received glowing references from his previous employers.”
- What does previous mean?
- Previous means prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: previous (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use previous in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/previous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.