perfect tense
noun
Simple meaning
A tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
perfehkttehnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɚˈfɛktˈtɛns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Often, specifically, the present perfect tense as distinguished from the past perfect and future perfect tenses.
A tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)
A verb form indicating that an action or state has been completed at the present time, in the past, or shall be completed in the future.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Often, specifically, the present perfect tense as distinguished from the past perfect and future perfect tenses.
Used this way, perfect tense is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.