future perfect

[fyoo-cher pur-fikt]

noun

1. a verb construction, in English made up of the auxiliary verb will followed by a verb in the present perfect, used to express an action or state to be completed at or before a particular point of reference in time to come, such as By this time tomorrow, you will have given your speech and Next month she will have been cancer-free for six years.

adjective

1. designating a verb construction used to express an action or state to be completed at or before a particular point of reference in time to come.

future perfect

adjective

1. denoting a tense of verbs describing an action that will have been performed by a certain time. In English this is formed with will have or shall have plus the past participle

noun

1. 1. the future perfect tense

   2. a verb in this tense

Word History and Origins

Origin of future perfect¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

"As the future perfect turns into the present perfect, we can apply ourselves to creating a tolerable present and future — for ourselves and for the rest of life," Nijhuis writes.

Read more on Salon

Sociologist Karl Weick argues that we can make sense of the future only if we envision it as having already happened — that we think in the future perfect.

Read more on Washington Post

“Sometimes you have to speak in the future perfect tense,” Mockus told the Guardian in 2013, “knowing you will not win.”

Read more on Seattle Times

Never was the future perfect put to better use.

Read more on The New Yorker

In the 19th century there was a huge number of utopias written about future perfect lives, but the Second World War changed that.

Read more on The Guardian