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Definition of tense noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

tense

noun
 
/tens/
 
/tens/
(grammar)
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  1. any of the forms of a verb that may be used to show the time of the action or state expressed by the verb
    • the past/present/future tense
    Extra Examples
    • ‘Have’ is the auxiliary verb used to form perfect tenses.
    • In the sentence ‘I fed the cat’, ‘fed’ is in the past tense.
    • the present tense marker ‘s’
    Topics Languagea1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • future
    • past
    • present
    verb + tense
    • use
    • form
    tense + noun
    • marker
    preposition
    • in the… tense
    See full entry
    Word Originnoun Middle English (in the general sense ‘time’): from Old French tens, from Latin tempus ‘time’.
See tense in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee tense in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English

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perfectly
adverb
 
 
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