past tense

past tense

noun

Definition 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 (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 (as was writing in “I was writing while he dictated” or loved in “their sons loved fishing”)

First Known Use of PAST TENSE

1813

Rhymes with PAST TENSE

defense, expense, horse sense, incense, nonsense, sequence, sixth sense