Perfective

//pə(ɹ)ˈfɛktɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A perfective verb form.
  2. 2
    the aspect of a verb that expresses a completed action wordnet
  3. 3
    a tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect) wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, or relative to, the perfect tense or perfective aspect.
  2. 2
    Tending to make perfect, or to bring to perfection. obsolete

    "a perfective alteration"

Synonyms

All synonyms
aspectcappingclosingcomplementarycrowningculminating

Example

More examples

"When learning Russian, it's important to understand the difference between perfective and imperfective verbs."

Etymology

From perfect + -ive.

Related phrases

perfective aspectperfect tenseperfective aspect

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