principal parts


noun (used with a plural verb) Grammar.

a set of inflected forms of a form class from which all the other inflected forms can be derived, as sing, sang, sung; smoke, smoked.

Origin of principal parts

First recorded in 1865–70

British Dictionary definitions for principal parts

principal parts

pl n

grammar the main inflected forms of a verb, from which all other inflections may be deduced. In English they are generally considered to consist of the third person present singular, present participle, past tense, and past participle
the sides and interior angles of a triangle