1. Plural of preterit; verb forms that express past action, used in some languages (especially Romance languages) to indicate a completed action in the past.
Usage: linguistics term; also spelled 'preterite'

Examples

• In Spanish, the preterits of regular verbs follow predictable conjugation patterns.
• The teacher explained how French preterits differ from the imperfect tense.
• Students must memorize the preterits of irregular verbs to master the language.
• The preterits express completed actions with a definite endpoint in the past.
• Many Romance languages use preterits to distinguish between habitual and punctual past events.