- a verb construction, in English made up of the past tense auxiliary verb had followed by the past participle of the main verb, used to express an action or state that was already complete before a particular point of reference in the past, such as Hehad cleanedthe place up before I arrived and Yesterday she told me shehad beenin the hospital for a week.
- designating a verb construction used to express an action or state that was already complete before a particular point of reference in the past.
- more than perfect: He spoke the language with pluperfect precision.
- grammar another term for past perfect
