pluperfect
English
Etymology
Shortening of plusquamperfect, from Latin plusquamperfectum (“more than perfect”), from plus (“more”) + quam (“than”) + perfectum, neuter singular of perfectus (“achieved; finished; perfected”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /pluːˈpɜː.fɪkt/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /pluˈpɝ.fɪkt/
Adjective
pluperfect (not comparable)
- More than perfect, utterly perfect, ideal.
- (grammar) Pertaining to action completed before another action or event in the past, past perfect.
- (mathematics) Relating to a certain type of graph, complying with the theorem (pluperfect graph theorem) discovered by D. R. Fulkerson in 1970.
- (mathematics) Synonym of multiperfect
- (informal) Used as an intensifier in various interjections.
- What in the pluperfect hell is going on here?!
- 1952, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Wildlife in North Carolina - Volumes 16-19:
- The drought has raised pluperfect heck with fishing more ways than one.
Usage notes
- In many languages, this tense is formed using a participle and an auxiliary verb in a past tense.
Related terms
- pluperfection
Noun
pluperfect (plural pluperfects)
- The pluperfect tense, the past perfect.
- A verb in this tense.
Synonyms
- plusquamperfect, preterpluperfect
Translations
pluperfect tense — see pluperfect tense
verb in this tense
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