Past Tense of Glow | Explanation, Use & Examples
Glow is a verb meaning “produce a soft, dim light” and a noun describing that same light. It is a regular verb, so it uses the “-ed” ending to produce the simple past and past participle forms.
Glow can also be used in a nonliteral sense to refer to how a person’s face looks when they are happy or healthy-looking (e.g., “Emma glowed with satisfaction and joy”).
Looking back, we realized that our hopes had glowed brighter that year than at any time since.
Betty loved the outdoor life, and her skin glowed with health.
Past tense of glow
The simple past of glow is glowed. The simple past is used to describe actions that took place in the past.
The interior of the coffee shop glowed so warmly, they couldn’t resist!
Past participle of glow
The past participle of glow is also also glowed and is used in forming the perfect tenses. Because glow is an intransitive verb it cannot be used in the passive voice.
For a brief moment, the future had glowed with promise. But it was not to be.
Glew or glowed?
Because some verbs like “grow,” “blow,” and “throw” form the past tense by changing the “-ow” to “-ew,” you will sometimes see the incorrect spelling “glew.” Don’t be confused by these irregular verbs, however; the only correct spelling of glow in the past tense is glowed.
Frequently asked questions about the past tense of glow
- What does glow up mean?
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Glow up is a phrasal verb, adjective, or a noun used informally, especially on social media, to indicate a person who has transformed themselves in a positive way (e.g., “Gina was famous for her glow up video that brought her to the attention of many new followers”).
While it’s commonly used in informal writing, glow up would not be acceptable in academic writing.
You can use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to make sure your spelling and grammar are error-free.
- Is glew a word?
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Glew is indeed a word, but it is not the past tense of glow. It is an archaic spelling of the word “glue.”
Sometimes people mistakenly think that glow follows the pattern of “throw,” “know,” or “grow” and forms its past tenses by changing the “-ow” to “-ew.” But these are irregular verbs and grow follows the regular verb pattern of adding “-ed.”
- The flame glew in the distance and slowly faded.
- The flame glowed in the distance and slowly faded.
You can use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to make sure your spelling and grammar are error-free.
