MEANING
1. To clean and arrange feathers with the beak.
2. To show conspicuous satisfaction with one's appearance or achievement.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- preen feathers
- preening bird
On the page
The heron preened beside the still water.
Word forms
- Base
- preen
- Past tense
- preened
- Past participle
- preened
- Present participle
- preening
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- preen
- Present continuous
- am/is/are preening
- Present perfect
- have/has preened
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been preening
- Past
- preened
- Past continuous
- was/were preening
- Past perfect
- had preened
- Past perfect continuous
- had been preening
- Future
- will preen
- Future continuous
- will be preening
- Future perfect
- will have preened
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been preening
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: preen; preens; preened; preened; preening Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, character, dialogue. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: preens.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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