aorist

American  

[ey-uh-rist] / ˈeɪ ə rɪst /

noun

1. a verb tense, as in Classical Greek, expressing action or, in the indicative mood, past action, without further limitation or implication.

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adjective

1. of or in this tense.

aorist British  

/ ˈeɪərɪst, ˈɛərɪst /

noun

1. grammar a tense of the verb in classical Greek and in certain other inflected languages, indicating past action without reference to whether the action involved was momentary or continuous Compare perfect imperfect

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Other Word Forms

• aoristic
  adjective
• aoristically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of aorist

1575–85; < Greek aóristos unlimited, equivalent to a- a- ⁶ + ( h ) oristós limited ( *horid- (base of horízein to bound, limit; see horizon) + -tos adj. suffix)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aorist

Iroquois verbs have three moods, indicative, imperative, and subjunctive; and they have, in the indicative, seven tenses, the present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, aorist, future, and paulo-post future.

From The Iroquois Book of Rites by Horatio Hale

Present, aorist, and reduplicated perfect, as forming a skeleton conjugation, iv.

From Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV Essays chiefly on the Science of Language by F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller

Jam pridem mortuus est means, he died long ago, as an aorist; jam diu mortuus est, he has already long been in his grave as a perfect.

From Döderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes by Ludwig Döderlein

One form alone was available to express those modifications which are indicated by the imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, and aorist tenses of the classical languages.

From Story of Creation as Told By Theology and By Science by T. S. (Thomas Suter) Ackland

It is used in the first four tenses; but the potential imperfect is properly an aorist: its time is very indeterminate; as, "He would be devoid of sensibility were he not greatly satisfied."

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown