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animacy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
animacy, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
animacy in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
animacy you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From animate + -cy.
Noun
animacy (usually uncountable, plural animacies)
- (linguistics) In some languages, the characteristic of a noun, dependent on its living or sentient nature, which affects grammatical features (it can modify verbs used with the noun, affect the noun's declension, etc.).
- (biology) The state of being alive.
2011, Seppo Kittilä, Katya Västi, Jussi Ylikoski, Case, Animacy and Semantic Roles, page 6:These may differ radically in their linguistic animacy, as briefly discussed above, without this having any consequences for their biological animacy.
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