What does "aorist" mean?

A verb paradigm found in certain languages, usually an unmarked form or one that expresses the perfective or aorist aspect.

What is a synonym for "aorist"?

Common synonyms include: future, imperfect, past, perfect, present, tense.

Pronounced //ˈeɪ.ə.ɹɪst//.

//ˈeɪ.ə.ɹɪst// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A verb paradigm found in certain languages, usually an unmarked form or one that expresses the perfective or aorist aspect.
2
a verb tense in some languages (classical Greek and Sanskrit) expressing action (especially past action) without indicating its completion or continuation wordnet
3
A particular verb in the aorist.

Adjective

1
Of or pertaining to a verb in the aorist aspect. not-comparable
"the aorist stem of a verb"

From Ancient Greek ἀόριστος (aóristos, “unbounded”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.