Meanings
alternative preterit · alternative praeterite · alternative præterite · alternative pret.
- not comparablegrammarShowing 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 - not comparableBelonging wholly to the past; passed by.
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 191 more example
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 52Synonyms: bygone
plural preterites · alternative preterit · alternative praeterite · alternative præterite · alternative pret.
- grammarA grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past.
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 1151 more example
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 101Synonyms: grammatical tense
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveBelonging wholly to the past; passed by.
nounA grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpraeteritum
- Old Frenchpreterit
- Middle Englishpreterit
- Englishpreterite
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”)).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic الْمَاضِي التَّامّ
- الْمَاضِي التَّامّ (al-māḍī t-tāmm)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
Bulgarian минал, минало време
- минал (minal)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- минало време (minalo vreme)preterite tense; simple past
Catalan pretèrit, pretèrit
- pretèritshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- pretèritpreterite tense; simple past
Danish præteritum, datid
- præteritumpreterite tense; simple past
- datidpreterite tense; simple past
Dutch in de verleden tijd, in het preteritum
- in de verleden tijdshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- in het preteritumshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- onvoltooid verleden tijdpreterite tense; simple past
Esperanto preterito
- preteritopreterite tense; simple past
Estonian üldminevik
- üldminevikshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
Finnish preteriti
- preteritipreterite tense; simple past
French du passé, prétérit
- du passéshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- prétéritpreterite tense; simple past
German Mitvergangenheit, Präteritum
- Mitvergangenheitpreterite tense; simple past
- Präteritumpreterite tense; simple past
Greek παρωχημένος, αόριστος
- παρωχημένος (parochiménos)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- αόριστος (aóristos)preterite tense; simple past
Hungarian elbeszélő múlt (idő)
- elbeszélő múlt (idő)preterite tense; simple past
Japanese 過去の, 過去時制の
- 過去の (kako no)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- 過去時制の (kako-jisei no)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- 点過去の (ten-kako no)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- 過去 (kako)preterite tense; simple past
- 過去時制 (kako-jisei)preterite tense; simple past
Latin praeteritus, praeteritum
- praeteritusshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- praeteritumpreterite tense; simple past
Norwegian Bokmål preteritum
- preteritumpreterite tense; simple past
Polish przeszły, czas przeszły
- przeszłyshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- czas przeszłypreterite tense; simple past
Portuguese pretérito, pretérito
- pretéritoshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- pretéritopreterite tense; simple past
Romanian preterit
- preteritpreterite tense; simple past
Russian прете́рит, проше́дшее повествова́тельное
- прете́рит (pretérit)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- проше́дшее повествова́тельное (prošédšeje povestvovátelʹnoje)showing an action at a determined moment in the past
- проше́дшее вре́мя (prošédšeje vrémja)preterite tense; simple past
- прете́рит (pretɛ́rit)preterite tense; simple past
Spanish pretérito, pretérito
- pretéritoshowing an action at a determined moment in the past
- pretéritopreterite tense; simple past
Swedish preteritum
- preteritumpreterite tense; simple past
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
preterite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preterite
“preterite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preterite. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “preterite,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preterite.
Source: preterite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.