tenseless

T1E1N1S1E1L1E1S1S1

adjective

Lacking grammatical tense

OriginProto-Germanic *lausaz ← Proto-Indo-European *lewHs- ← English tense →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

adjectivetenseless (not comparable)
  1. not comparableLacking grammatical tense

    Those who endorse the A-theory of time, for example, often attempt to show that tense is ineliminable, i. e., it is impossible to adequately paraphrase tensed sentences into tenseless ones.

    2008 August 27, Kevin Dewan, “Review of Heather Dyke, Metaphysics and the Representational Fallacy”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 2, →DOI

Origin

  1. Englishtense
  2. Proto-Indo-European*lewh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*lewHs-
  4. Proto-Germanic*leusaną
  5. Proto-Germanic*lausaz
  6. Englishtenseless

From tense + -less.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

tenseless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenseless

MLA

“tenseless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenseless. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenseless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenseless.

Source: tenseless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.