present tense
noun1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.
- Animals—lions and zebras and beautiful snakes—live vividly in the present tense, in a bright unconsciousness of time. That is their innocence and their limitation. Humans carry with them their experiences, their pasts; men and women work with a knowledge of consequences and, doing so, impose order on the chaotic present and project consequences into the future.1998 March 30, Lance Morrow, “The Trouble With The Present Tense”, in Time:
- Synonyms
- present
- Derived terms
- dramatic present tense, historical present tense, historic present tense, narrative present tense, present historic tense
- Related terms
- be, is, was, present continuous