Pret″er‐it (?; 277), a. [L. praeteritus, p. p. of praeterire to go or pass by; praeter beyond, by + ire to go: cf. F. prétérit. See Issue.] [Written also preterite and præterite.] 1. (Gram.) Past; — applied to a tense which expresses an action or state as past.
2. Belonging wholly to the past; passed by.
Things and persons as thoroughly preterite as Romulus or Numa. Lowell.