past tense
nounDefinition of past tense
: a verb tense expressing action or state in or as if in the past:
a
: a verb tense expressive of elapsed time (such as wrote in "on arriving I wrote a letter")
b
: a verb tense expressing action or state in progress or continuance or habitually done or customarily occurring at a past time (such as was writing in "I was writing while he dictated" or loved in "their sons loved fishing")
Examples of past tense in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The collective millions of dollars spent to acquire and restore the cars, all the time, research and sweat — all slipped into past tense. — Susan Callaway, Los Angeles Times, "Inside the elite, detail-obsessed world of the people who judge the Oscars of classic cars," 29 Aug. 2019 By the time the duo started performing the song a year later, Dye says, the pain had been in the past tense for a few months. — Nancy Kruh, PEOPLE.com, "Maddie & Tae Rely on Real-Life Heartbreak for Music Video: 'Everyone Is About to Get a Front-Row Seat'," 13 Aug. 2019 The greatest danger, of course, of the government being able to pick and choose what kind of speech is allowed is actually not having the freedom to sell clothing bearing a slogan that’s essentially the past tense of the F-word. — Katherine Timpf, National Review, "The Supreme Court Protected Vulgar Patents — And That’s Great," 1 July 2019 There soon will be a time when Whiteside will be past tense for the Heat, either with a trade in the interim or when his contract expires on the eve of 2020 free agency. — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, "NBA draft preview: Is post-Whiteside era at center the Heat’s next frontier?," 18 June 2019 Merritt referred to McStay in the past tense in an interview with investigators after the family vanished. — CBS News, "California man guilty of killing family of 4 found in desert graves," 10 June 2019 These two meanings arise in human speech and writing whenever anything is expressed about a different time, and specifically whenever the past tense is used. — Quanta Magazine, "Why Sleeping Beauty Is Lost in Time," 31 Mar. 2016 According to Marca, Ramos at first dismissed his teammate's apparent use of the past tense but appealed to the Portuguese star to explain the meaning behind his comments. — SI.com, "Sergio Ramos Issues Response After Cristiano Ronaldo's Cryptic Comments About His Future," 27 May 2018 But that version of Macerata seemed more in the past tense. — Jason Horowitz, New York Times, "This Italian Town Once Welcomed Migrants. Now, It’s a Symbol for Right-Wing Politics," 7 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'past tense.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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