future perfect

American  

[fyoo-cher pur-fikt] / ˈfyu tʃər ˈpɜr fɪkt /

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.

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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 British  

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

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noun

1. 1. the future perfect tense

   2. a verb in this tense

Etymology

Origin of future perfect

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

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.

From Washington Post

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

From Seattle Times

Never was the future perfect put to better use.

From 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.

From The Guardian

Garcia, he said, had “to talk in the future perfect tense” about what he hopes to do.

From Washington Post