recent

recent — adjective

1. Something described as recent belongs to a period just before the present moment

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

Something described as recent belongs to a period just before the present moment — it happened or came into being not very long ago.

Example

Dr. Obi's recent report found that teenagers in Zola's town sleep less than seven hours.

attributive: recent + report/study/article + findings

The recent heavy rain washed away part of the path behind Rohan's house.

attributive: recent + natural event (rain/flood/storm)

Common collocations
  • recent report
  • recent study
  • recent event
  • recent news
  • recent changes
  • recent interview
Synonyms
  • new

    wider meaning — anything not old can be 'new'; 'recent' more precisely ties to the near past

  • latest

    suggests the most recent item in a series (e.g., 'the latest film', 'the latest news')

  • fresh

    more informal; often used for food, news, or experiences that feel newly made

Antonyms
  • old

    direct opposite in time

  • ancient

    emphatic — very far in the past

Grammar Patterns

attributive: recent + noun

predicative: be + recent

Usage Note

Most common before a noun (attributive position), especially with nouns referring to events, reports, or changes. Less common after a linking verb (e.g., 'her visit was quite recent').

Common Mistakes

The movie was recent good.
The movie was recently good.
'recent' is an adjective and modifies nouns; 'recently' is the adverb form used to modify verbs and adjectives.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

New is the broadest of these words and can describe anything that has not existed before or has just been acquired (a new phone, a new idea). Recent is more specific: it places an event or thing in the near past, not just in a state of newness. Latest implies a sequence — the most recent item in an ongoing series (the latest album by a band, the latest fashion). Fresh often carries a positive, lively tone and appears in informal or sensory contexts (fresh bread, fresh news). Current refers to something happening right now rather than something that happened recently (current events vs. recent events). For example, 'recent research' means studies published in the last few months, while 'current research' means studies being done right now.

new ↗latest ↗fresh ↗current ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • very recent
  • most recent
  • quite recent
  • fairly recent
  • relatively recent

Phrases

  • recent memory
  • recent history
  • until recently

Prepositions

  • in recent years
  • in recent months
  • in recent weeks
  • of recent origin

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Recent comes from the Latin word recens, meaning 'fresh', 'young', or 'new'. It passed into English through French récent in the early 1500s. The core idea of freshness or newness in time has stayed the same for over five hundred years.