Associations to the word «Preterite»

Wiktionary

PRETERITE, adjective. (grammar) (of a tense) showing an action at a determined moment in the past.
PRETERITE, adjective. Belonging wholly to the past; passed by.
PRETERITE, noun. (grammar) The preterite tense, simple past tense: the grammatical tense that determines the specific initiation or termination of an action in the past.

Dictionary definition

PRETERITE, noun. A term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense.

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats