yesterday
yesterday
Pronunciation
yesterday
/ˈjɛstərˌdeɪ/
yes-: /jɛs/
/j/: "y" sound as in "yes"
/ɛ/: short "e" sound as in "bed"
/s/: "s" sound as in "sip"
-ter-: /tər/
/t/: "t" sound as in "top"
/ər/: "er" sound as in "butter" (schwa + r-colored vowel)
-day: /deɪ/
/d/: "d" sound as in "dog"
/eɪ/: long "a" sound as in "say"
Word Form Variations
"Yesterday" is primarily an adverb and a noun. It does not have typical singular/plural variations or other inflections like verbs (e.g., -ing, -ed) or adjectives (e.g., -er, -est).
Adverb: yesterday
Noun: yesterday
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Adverb
Definition: On the day preceding today; during the 24-hour period before the current one.
Synonyms: the day before, last day, on the previous day
Antonyms: today, tomorrow, hereafter
Noun
Definition: The day immediately before the present day.
Synonyms: the previous day, the day past
Antonyms: today, tomorrow, the future
Definition: (Figurative) The recent past; a bygone era or period. Often used to refer to a time remembered with nostalgia or regret.
Synonyms: the past, bygone days, olden times, yesteryearAntonyms: the present, the future, modernity
Examples of Use
Book: "All my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday." (Lennon-McCartney, "Yesterday" lyrics, often cited as from The Beatles Anthology, October 1995)
Newspaper: "The city council voted yesterday to approve the new zoning ordinance, despite strong opposition from local residents." (The New York Times, June 2025)
Online Publication: "Microsoft announced yesterday that its highly anticipated AI assistant will be integrated across its productivity suite later this year." (The Verge, May 2025)
Film (Entertainment Medium): "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see. I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low. Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me. Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead. Mama, life had just begun, but now I've gone and thrown it all away. Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry, if I'm not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters." (Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody" lyrics, from the film Bohemian Rhapsody, October 2018)
Podcast (Entertainment Platform): "On yesterday's episode, we delved into the complexities of quantum physics and its potential applications." (NPR's Throughline, April 2025)
Social Media (Entertainment Platform/Public Discourse): "Feeling great after my workout yesterday! 💪 #fitness #health" (X [formerly Twitter] post, June 2025)
General Public Discourse: "I met up with an old friend yesterday, and we spent hours reminiscing about our college days." (Casual conversation, ongoing)
10 Quotes Using Yesterday
"All my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday." (Lennon–McCartney)
"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." (Abraham Lincoln, often paraphrased with "The best thing about yesterday is it's over.")
"I wake up every morning and I thank God for the new day." (Michael Jordan, frequently quoted with variations on living for today and not yesterday.)
"We are not living in the past, we are living for the future, but we must remember yesterday." (Nelson Mandela)
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." (Albert Einstein)
"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today." (Will Rogers)
"Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday." (Dale Carnegie)
"Man should forget his yesterday and remember his tomorrow." (Jewish proverb)
"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose." (Lyndon B. Johnson)
"The only thing worse than starting something and failing... is not starting something." (Seth Godin, often in the context of taking action today, not waiting for yesterday to be perfect.)
Etymology
The word "yesterday" has a very old and interesting history! It comes from a combination of two older words: "yester" and "day."
Think of "yester" as a really old-fashioned way of saying "the day before" or "previous." This "yester" part can be traced back through Old English (geostran) to an even older language called Proto-Germanic (gester-), which is the ancestor of many modern Germanic languages like German (gestern) and Dutch (gisteren). Even further back, it connects to an ancient root in Proto-Indo-European (dhgh(y)es-), which is the grand-parent language of a huge family of languages including Latin (heri), Greek (khthes), and Sanskrit (hyah), all of which also had words meaning "yesterday." Interestingly, this ancient root could originally mean "the other day," referring to either the day before or the day after.
So, when English speakers wanted to specifically talk about the day before today, they combined that old "yester" meaning "previous day" with "day." The earliest known use of "yesterday" as a single word in English can be found in documents from before the 12th century, essentially meaning "the day last past" or "the day preceding the present."
Phrases + Idioms Containing Yesterday
**Born yesterday: To be naive or easily fooled (e.g., "Do you think I was born yesterday?").
Yesterday's news: Something that is no longer relevant or interesting.
A thing of yesterday: Something that belongs to the past and is no longer current or important.
From yesterday to tomorrow: Moving from a past state to a future one; often implying a sudden or significant change.
Yesterday's gone: A reminder that the past is over and cannot be changed.
Live for today, forget yesterday: An encouragement to focus on the present rather than dwelling on the past.
Like yesterday: Seeming like a very recent time, even if it was long ago; still vivid in memory.
Not a day like yesterday: Referring to a day that was exceptional or particularly memorable, often in a negative way.
Yesterday's dreams: Hopes or aspirations from the past that may or may not have been realized.
Yesterday never dies: A poetic way of saying that the past continues to influence the present
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of yesterday from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
