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Definition of past perfect - 3 dictionary results
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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past perfect  
n.  See pluperfect.
plu·per·fect   (plōō-pûr'fĭkt)   
adj.  
  1. Of or being a verb tense used to express action completed before a specified or implied past time.

  2. More than perfect; supremely accomplished; ideal: "He has won a reputation as [a] pluperfect bureaucrat" (New York Times).

n.  
  1. The pluperfect tense, formed in English with the past participle of a verb and the auxiliary had, as had learned in the sentence He had learned to type by the end of the semester. Also called past perfect.

  2. A verb or form in the pluperfect tense.


[Middle English pluperfyth, alteration of Latin plūs quam perfectum, more than perfect : plūs, more; see pelə-1 in Indo-European roots + quam, than + perfectum, neuter past participle of perficere, to complete; see perfect.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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