pluperfect
English
Etymology
Shortening of plusquamperfect, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin plusquamperfectum (“more than perfect”), from plus (“more”) + quam (“than”) + perfectum, neuter singular of perfectus (“achieved; finished; perfected”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
pluperfect (not comparable)
- More than perfect.
- (grammar) Pertaining to action completed before or at the same time as another.
- (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[1]:
- The drought has raised pluperfect heck with fishing more ways than one.
Usage notes
- In many languages this is implemented using a participle and an auxiliary verb in a past tense.
Related terms
Noun
pluperfect (plural pluperfects)
- The pluperfect tense.
- A verb in this tense.
Synonyms
Translations
pluperfect tense — see pluperfect tense
verb in this tense
|