Verb in a retrospective

The answer

WAS

3 letters. See every clue for this answer on the WAS answer page.

Used 6 times across 4 distinct years; most recently in 2012; first recorded in 2009. It appears in 3 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.

Other clues for WAS

Every other clue in this collection answered by WAS, most used first.

• Used to be - used 392 times, most recently in 2026
• Existed - used 215 times, most recently in 2026
• "Now, where ___ I?" - used 59 times, most recently in 2026
• Had been - used 54 times, most recently in 2026
• Is in the past? - used 41 times, most recently in 2026
• Is no longer - used 39 times, most recently in 2026
• Lived - used 36 times, most recently in 2019
• Functioned as - used 23 times, most recently in 2026
• Has been - used 23 times, most recently in 2026
• "As I ___ saying ..." - used 21 times, most recently in 2026
• "Who ___ that masked man?" - used 19 times, most recently in 2026
• Common verb - used 18 times, most recently in 1976
• "How Green ___ My Valley" - used 16 times, most recently in 2026
• "Time ___ ..." - used 16 times, most recently in 2025
• Once existed - used 15 times, most recently in 2025
• Portrayed - used 15 times, most recently in 2026
• Third word in many limericks - used 15 times, most recently in 2025
• Took place - used 15 times, most recently in 2022
• "What ___ I thinking?" - used 15 times, most recently in 2026
• "Where ___ I?" - used 15 times, most recently in 2025
• "How ___ I to know?" - used 12 times, most recently in 2025
• Is no more - used 12 times, most recently in 2026
• "That -- close!" - used 12 times, most recently in 2026
• "Fuzzy Wuzzy __ a bear..." - used 11 times, most recently in 2025
• Is past? - used 11 times, most recently in 2025
• Isn't anymore - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Isn't now - used 9 times, most recently in 2016
• "That ___ no lady ..." - used 9 times, most recently in 2013
• "Fuzzy Wuzzy ___ . . ." - used 8 times, most recently in 2017
• "Kilroy ___ here" - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
• No longer is - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
• Served as - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
• "That ___ a close one!" - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
• "That ___ then ..." - used 7 times, most recently in 2024
• Third word of many limericks - used 7 times, most recently in 2018
• "What ___ that?" - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
• "I ___ wondering ... " - used 6 times, most recently in 2026
• Once lived - used 6 times, most recently in 2026
• Record producer Don - used 6 times, most recently in 2006
• Second word of "A Tale of Two Cities" - used 6 times, most recently in 2013

Related clues

Clues in this collection of the same answer length that share a word with this clue, or match its answer pattern when no word is shared. Most used first.

• Common verb - ARE, used 198 times
• Verb for you - ARE, used 139 times
• Biblical verb ending - ETH, used 112 times
• British verb ending - ISE, used 103 times
• Verb ending? - OSE, used 78 times
• Latin 101 verb - AMO, used 64 times

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