Meanings
plural present tenses
- grammarA grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.
1 more example
Animals—lions and zebras and beautiful snakes—live vividly in the present tense, in a bright unconsciousness of time. That is their innocence and their limitation. Humans carry with them their experiences, their pasts; men and women work with a knowledge of consequences and, doing so, impose order on the chaotic present and project consequences into the future.
1998 March 30, Lance Morrow, “The Trouble With The Present Tense”, in TimeSynonyms: present
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans teenwoordige tyd
- teenwoordige tydform of language
Arabic مُضَارِع, فِعْل مُضَارِع
- مُضَارِع (muḍāriʕ)form of language
- فِعْل مُضَارِع (fiʕl muḍāriʕ)form of language
- الْفِعْل الْمُضَارِع (al-fiʕl al-muḍāriʕ)form of language
Bengali বর্তমান, বর্তমান কাল
- বর্তমান (bortoman)form of language
- বর্তমান কাল (bortoman kal)form of language
Bulgarian сега́шно вре́ме
- сега́шно вре́ме (segášno vréme)form of language
Chinese Mandarin 現在時態 /现在时态, 現在時 /现在时
- 現在時態 /现在时态 (xiànzài shítài)form of language
- 現在時 /现在时 (xiànzàishí)form of language
Czech přítomný čas
- přítomný časform of language
Danish præsens, nutid
- præsensform of language
- nutidform of language
Dutch tegenwoordige tijd
- tegenwoordige tijdform of language
Estonian olevik
- olevikform of language
Finnish preesens
- preesensform of language
French présent
- présentform of language
German Gegenwart, Präsens
- Gegenwartform of language
- Präsensform of language
Greek ενεστώτας
- ενεστώτας (enestótas)form of language
Hebrew לשון הוה
- לשון הוה (l'shón hové)form of language
Hindi वर्तमान, वर्तमान काल
- वर्तमान (vartamān)form of language
- वर्तमान काल (vartamān kāl)form of language
Hungarian jelen idő
- jelen időform of language
Icelandic nútíð
- nútíðform of language
Indonesian kala kini
- kala kiniform of language
Irish aimsir láithreach
- aimsir láithreachform of language
Italian presente indicativo, indicativo presente
- presente indicativoform of language
- indicativo presenteform of language
- presenteform of language
Japanese 現在時制, 現在形
- 現在時制 (genzai jisei)form of language
- 現在形 (genzaikei)form of language
Korean 현재 시제
- 현재 시제 (hyeonjae sije)form of language
Latin tempus praesēns, praesēns
- tempus praesēnsform of language
- praesēnsform of language
Latvian tagadnes laiks
- tagadnes laiksform of language
Lithuanian esamasis laikas
- esamasis laikasform of language
Malay kala kini
- kala kiniform of language
Māori wātū
- wātūform of language
Norwegian Bokmål presens, nåtid
- presensform of language
- nåtidform of language
Polish czas teraźniejszy
- czas teraźniejszyform of language
Portuguese presente
- presenteform of language
Romanian prezent, timpul prezent
- prezentform of language
- timpul prezentform of language
Russian настоя́щее вре́мя
- настоя́щее вре́мя (nastojáščeje vrémja)form of language
Scottish Gaelic tràth làthaireach
- tràth làthaireachform of language
Slovak prítomný čas, prézent
- prítomný časform of language
- prézentform of language
Spanish presente
- presenteform of language
Swedish presens, nutid
- presensform of language
- nutidform of language
Tagalog pangkasalukuyan, nagaganap
- pangkasalukuyanform of language
- nagaganapform of language
Tamil நிகழ்காலம்
- நிகழ்காலம் (nikaḻkālam)form of language
Thai ปัจจุบัน
- ปัจจุบัน (bpàt-jù-ban)form of language
Turkish şimdiki
- şimdikiform of language
Ukrainian тепе́рішній час
- тепе́рішній час (tepérišnij čas)form of language
Urdu حال, زَمانَۂ حال
- حال (hāl)form of language
- زَمانَۂ حال (zamāna-yi hāl)form of language
Vietnamese thì hiện tại
- thì hiện tạiform of language
Cite this entry
present tense. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/present%20tense
“present tense.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/present%20tense. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “present tense,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/present%20tense.
Source: present tense on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.