a while back

Idioms and Phrases

Also, a while ago . Some time in the past, as in I ran into Barbara a while back but didn't get her new address , or John wrote me a while ago about his new baby . This term uses a while in the sense of “a short or moderate time,” a usage dating from about 1300.

Example Sentences

Dear Liz: A while back, you responded to a letter writer that Social Security’s estimates of the amount a person will receive assumes the person will continue working until they apply for benefits.

From Los Angeles Times

It was Ms Berry’s great-niece who saved her, helping her wade through three to four feet of water, as she had a hip replacement a while back.

From BBC

I lost the conversation’s thread a while back, so I ask him, “Do you travel much?”

From Los Angeles Times

Armstrong issued a statement over the weekend, saying she wanted to "clear the air about something that happened a while back".

From BBC

When I was in Paris a while back, I made my way into the august French Renaissance-style city hall, the Hotel de Ville, and up to the office of Audrey Pulvar, the deputy mayor in charge of sustainable food and agriculture and the systems to make them possible.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• already
• earlier
• heretofore
• once