blast from the past

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Something or someone from one's past that is unexpectedly encountered again

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

một điều gì đó hoặc ai đó từ quá khứ bất ngờ gặp lại

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: an explosion from the past
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Running into my old friend was a blast from the past

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “blast from the past” mean?

Something or someone from one's past that is unexpectedly encountered again Literally: an explosion from the past

Is “blast from the past” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.