participle, participial
(noun) a non-finite form of the verb; in English it is used adjectivally and to form compound tenses
Source: WordNet® 3.1
participle (plural participles)
(grammar) A form of a verb that may function as an adjective or noun. English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. In other languages, there are others, such as future, perfect, and future perfect participles.
Participles can be combined with the auxiliary verbs have and be to form the perfect aspect, the progressive aspect, and the passive voice. The tense is always expressed through the auxiliary verb.
• I have asked. (present tense, perfect aspect)
• I am asking. (present tense, progressive aspect)
• I am asked. (present tense, passive voice)
When not combined with have or be, participles are almost always adjectives and can form adjectival phrases called participial phrases. Nouns can occasionally be derived from these adjectives
• the following items
• the following
• the dying victims
• the dying
In English, participles typically end in -ing, -ed or -en.
A present participle ending in -ing has the same form as a gerund.
• active participle
• future participle
• passive participle
• past participle
• perfect passive participle
• present participle
Source: Wiktionary
Par"ti*ci*ple, n. Etym: [F. participe, L. participium, fr. particeps sharing, participant; pars, gen. partis, a part + capere to take. See Participate.]
1. (Gram.)
Definition: A part of speech partaking of the nature both verb and adjective; a form of a verb, or verbal adjective, modifying a noun, but taking the adjuncts of the verb from which it is derived. In the sentences: a letter is written; being asleep he did not hear; exhausted by toil he will sleep soundly, -- written, being, and exhaustedare participles. By a participle, [I understand] a verb in an adjectival aspect. Earle.
Note: Present participles, called also imperfect, or incomplete, participles, end in -ing. Past participles, called also perfect, or complete, participles, for the most part end in -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n. A participle when used merely as an attribute of a noun, without reference to time, is called an adjective, or a participial adjective; as, a written constitution; a rolling stone; the exhausted army. The verbal noun in -ing has the form of the present participle. See Verbal noun, under Verbal, a.
2. Anything that partakes of the nature of different things. [Obs.] The participles or confines between plants and living creatures. Bacon.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
29 September 2024
(noun) the technical aspects of doing something; “a mechanism of social control”; “mechanisms of communication”; “the mechanics of prose style”
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
