past tense

[ past-tens ]

nounGrammar.
  1. (in English) the simple past.

  2. any verb formation or construction used to express an action or state occurring in the past, such as, in English, the past progressive, present perfect, and pluperfect tenses.

  1. an instance or form of a specific verb expressing a past action or state.

Origin of past tense

1
First recorded in 1650–60
  • Also past .

Words Nearby past tense

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use past tense in a sentence

  • (b) Find sentences using ten past-tense forms of strong verbs.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • Must is historically a past-tense form, from the obsolete verb motan, which survives in the sentence, "So mote it be."

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • Spellings such as recal and befel, and eat as a past-tense form, are unchanged.

    Little Downy | Catharine Parr Traill
  • Explain the difference in meaning and the force of using the two past tense verbs in this sentence.

  • Verbs in the present-tense form are changed to the past-tense form.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell