Crossword clues for pluperfect
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Preterpluperfect \Pre`ter*plu"per`fect\, a. & n. [Pref. preter- + pluperfect.] (Gram.) Old name of the tense also called pluperfect.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
a. 1 More than perfect 2 (context grammar English) Pertaining to action completed before or at the same time as another n. 1 The pluperfect tense 2 A verb in this tense
WordNet
adj. more than perfect; "he spoke with pluperfect precision"
n. a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past; "`I had finished' is an example of the past perfect" [syn: past perfect, past perfect tense, pluferfect tense]
Wikipedia
The past perfect is a type of verb form, treated as one of the tenses of certain languages, used in referring to something that occurred earlier than the time being considered, when the time being considered is already in the past. The meaning of the pluperfect is equivalent to that of English verb forms such as "(we) had arrived" or "(they) had written".
The word derives from the Latin plus quam perfectum, "more than perfect" – the Latin perfect refers to something that occurred in the past, while the pluperfect refers to something that occurred "more" (further) in the past than the perfect.
In English grammar, the equivalent of the pluperfect (a form such as "had written") is now often called the past perfect, since it combines past tense with perfect aspect. (The same term is sometimes used in relation to the grammar of other languages.) English also has a past perfect progressive (or past perfect continuous) form: "had been writing".
Usage examples of "pluperfect".
The research, of course, is not without some personal risk to Piers's person, since the Australian magpie is a very aggressive bird known to dive-bomb and attack passing schoolchildren, nature enthusiasts, and pluperfect assholes.