pluperfect

English

Etymology

Shortening of plusquamperfect, from Latin plusquamperfectum (more than perfect), from plus (more) + quam (than) + perfectum, neuter singular of perfectus (achieved; finished; perfected).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pluːˈpɜː(ɹ)fɛkt/

Adjective

pluperfect (not comparable)

  1. More than perfect.
  2. (grammar) Pertaining to action completed before or at the same time as another.
  3. (mathematics) Relating to a certain type of graph, complying with the theorem (pluperfect graph theorem) discovered by D. R. Fulkerson in 1970.
  4. (mathematics) Synonym of multiperfect
  5. (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:
      The drought has raised pluperfect heck with fishing more ways than one.

Usage notes

Noun

pluperfect (plural pluperfects)

  1. The pluperfect tense.
  2. A verb in this tense.

Synonyms

Translations

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