preterite tense

plural preterite tenses

1. grammarA verb tense indicating action in the past and marked by verb inflection; the preterite.

   There are two past tense aspects and forms in Spanish: the preterite and the imperfect. This chapter provides a clear explanation of the preterite tense.

   2011, Jill Rodriguez, Ken Stewart, CliffsNotes Spanish 1 Quick Review, page 118

   1 more example

   The relation between tense and time in English, however, is by no means straightforward, as we saw in Ch. 1, §3, and it is important to be aware that preterite tense does not always signal past time.

   2005, Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey Pullum, A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, page 30