present tense
Americannoun
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(in English) the simple present.
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any verb formation or construction used to express an action or state occurring in the present, such as, in English, the present progressive.
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an instance or form of a specific verb expressing an action or state that occurs in the present.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of present tense
First recorded in 1400–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The author relates her principal story, of the two sisters, in the present tense, while keeping historical context in the past—an idiosyncratic choice that, fortunately, doesn’t derail the book’s narrative momentum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Morgan Jerkins has given us something magnificent in her second novel, “Zeal“: a sweeping historical novel that plants itself firmly in the present tense of American reckoning.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2025
They also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of first-person present tense in fiction.
From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2024
Unable to hold his children's bodies or be at their hurried burials, he still speaks of them in the present tense, his face motionless beneath the rolling tears.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2024
Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
