1.
You use ~ to describe events in the recent past, or situations that started a short time ago.
Dad’s health hasn’t been too good ~...
Lord Tomas had ~ been appointed Chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies...
‘Have you talked to her ~?’
= recently
ADV: ADV with v, ADV with cl
2.
You can use ~ to refer to the job a person has been doing until recently. (FORMAL)
...Timothy Jean Geoffrey Pratt, ~ deputy treasury solicitor...
ADV: ADV n/-ed