preterite
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preterite
- /ˈpɹɛtəɹɪt/
- /ˈpɹɛtəɹət/
Where it comes from
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”)).
adjective preterit · praeterite · præterite · pret.
- 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.
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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.
Similar: bygone
noun preterites · preterit · praeterite · præterite · pret.
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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.
Similar: grammatical tense
Thesaurus
Translations
Every language
adj showing an action at a determined moment in the past
| Español | pretérito |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 過去の kako no, 過去時制の kako-jisei no, 点過去の ten-kako no |
| Português | pretérito |
| Français | du passé |
| Ελληνικά | παρωχημένος parochiménos |
| Русский | прете́рит pretérit, проше́дшее повествова́тельное prošédšeje povestvovátelʹnoje |
| العربية | الْمَاضِي التَّامّ al-māḍī t-tāmm |
noun preterite tense; simple past
| Español | pretérito |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 過去 kako, 過去時制 kako-jisei |
| Português | pretérito |
| Français | prétérit |
| Deutsch | Mitvergangenheit, Präteritum |
| Ελληνικά | αόριστος aóristos |
| Română | preterit |
| Русский | проше́дшее вре́мя prošédšeje vrémja, прете́рит pretɛ́rit |
Talk about this word "preterite." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/preterite. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. preterite. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/preterite "preterite." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/preterite.Cite this
@misc{preterite_2026,
title = {preterite},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/preterite},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
