Dictionary

preterite en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɹɛtəɹət/ weak vowel merger
• /ˈpɹɛtəɹɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English preterit, from Old French preterit (13th century), from Latin praeteritum (as in tempus praeteritum (“time past”)), the past participle of praetereō (“to go by, go past”), itself from praeter (“beyond, before, above, more than”) (comparative of prae (“before”)) + itum (the past participle of eō (“to go”)).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, of a tense) Showing an action at a determined moment in the past.
   • The Dravidian preterite tense is ordinarily formed, like the present, by annexing the pronominal signs to the preterite verbal participle. 1913 [1856], Robert Caldwell, edited by J.L. Wyatt and T. Ramakrishna Pillai, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or, South-Indian Family of Languages, 3rd edition, London: Kegan Paul, →OCLC, page 496:
2. (not-comparable) Belonging wholly to the past; passed by.
   • Without leaving your elbow-chair, you shall go back with me thirty years, which will bring you among things and persons as thoroughly preterite as Romulus or Numa. 1890, James Russell Lowell, “Cambridge Thirty Years Ago”, in The Writings of James Russell Lowell, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, page 52:
   • Boas, Benedict, Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Murdock, Evans-Pritchard, Griaule, Levi-Strauss, to keep the list short, preterite, and variegated, […] 1988, Clifford Geertz, Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author, page 19:

Forms

Deriveds

preteriteness

Synonyms

bygone (belonging wholly to the past) · foregone · past

Translations (17)

bg минал (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ar المَاضَي التّامّ (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · la praeteritus (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ja 点過去の (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · el παρωχημένος (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ja 過去時制の (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · nl in het preteritum (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · es pretérito (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · fr du passé (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ru прете́рит (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · et üldminevik (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ru проше́дшее повествова́тельное (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · pt pretérito (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · pl przeszły (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ca pretèrit (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · ja 過去の (showing an action at a determined moment in the past) · nl in de verleden tijd (showing an action at a determined moment in the past)

preterite en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɹɛtəɹət/ weak vowel merger
• /ˈpɹɛtəɹɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English preterit, from Old French preterit (13th century), from Latin praeteritum (as in tempus praeteritum (“time past”)), the past participle of praetereō (“to go by, go past”), itself from praeter (“beyond, before, above, more than”) (comparative of prae (“before”)) + itum (the past participle of eō (“to go”)).

Meanings

1. A grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past.
   • When simple verbs redouble the preterite, the compounds drop the first syllable, as: Pello, pĕpŭli, to drive away, to beat back; Repello, rĕpŭli, and not rĕpĕpŭli, to drive back, to repel. 1772, John Mair, A Radical Vocabulary, Latin and English, Edinburgh: A. Murray, and J. Cochran, for A. Kincaid & W. Creech, and J. Bell, →OCLC, page 101:
   • Nevertheless, a small amount of variation still exists in one area of standard English verbal morphology: the preterite and past participle forms of certain irregular verbs. 1994, Dieter Stein, Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Towards a Standard English: 1600-1800, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 115:

Forms

Deriveds

preteriteness · preterital

Relateds

preteritive · preterition · preterite tense

Synonyms

grammatical tense

Translations (26)

de Mitvergangenheit (preterite tense; simple past) · eo preterito (preterite tense; simple past) · fr prétérit (preterite tense; simple past) · hu elbeszélő múlt (idő) (preterite tense; simple past) · es pretérito (preterite tense; simple past) · nl onvoltooid verleden tijd (preterite tense; simple past) · fi preteriti (preterite tense; simple past) · ja 過去 (preterite tense; simple past) · de Präteritum (preterite tense; simple past) · ru проше́дшее вре́мя (preterite tense; simple past) · sv preteritum (preterite tense; simple past) · ja 過去時制 (preterite tense; simple past) · da datid (preterite tense; simple past) · sh preterit (preterite tense; simple past) · nb preteritum (preterite tense; simple past) · bg минало време (preterite tense; simple past) · nrf sîmpl'ye pâssé (preterite tense; simple past) · ro preterit (preterite tense; simple past) · ru прете́рит (preterite tense; simple past) · ca pretèrit (preterite tense; simple past) · nn preteritum (preterite tense; simple past) · el αόριστος (preterite tense; simple past) · da præteritum (preterite tense; simple past) · pt pretérito (preterite tense; simple past) · la praeteritum (preterite tense; simple past) · pl czas przeszły (preterite tense; simple past)