Definition of "preterite" [pret•er•ite]

• Of, relating to, or being the verb tense that describes a past action or state. (adjective)
• The verb form expressing or describing a past action or condition. (noun)
• A verb in the preterite form. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Once you have the command of the present tense, the preterite is then taught."
• "For example, I never knew what the word preterite meant until years after completing my course, although I had repeated over and over again that the preterite, or past perfect, was thus, while the imperfect was thus, without having any conception that the word preterite meant past -- that it was a past that was entirely past in the former case, and a past that was past to a less degree in the latter."
• "I've also made the so-called "preterite" the new default, specifying non-continuous (ie. completed) actions or states regardless of whether they were contextually meant to be past, present or future tense whereby the form may just as well have meant '(S)he carried' (past) as '(S)he will carry' (future)."