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optative. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
optative, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
optative in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
optative you have here. The definition of the word
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English
- (abbreviation, grammar): opt.
Etymology
From Middle French optatif, from Late Latin optātīvus, a calque of Ancient Greek εὐκτική (euktikḗ, “related to wishing”), from Latin optātus, past participle of optāre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɒptətɪv/, /ɒpˈteɪtɪv/
- Hyphenation: op‧ta‧tive
- Rhymes: -eɪtɪv
Adjective
optative (not comparable)
- Expressing a wish or a choice.
a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: J G W L and W G, published 1662, →OCLC:an optative blessing
1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest , Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 64:[…] then, in the optative retirement from hard science that building and opening a U.S.T.A-accredited and pedagogically experimental tennis academy apparently represented for him […]
- (grammar) Related or pertaining to the optative mood.
Translations
pertaining to the optative mood
Noun
optative (plural optatives)
- (grammar) A mood of verbs found in some languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Old Prussian, and Ancient Greek, but not English), used to express a wish.
- (grammar) A verb or expression in the optative mood.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
French
Pronunciation
Adjective
optative
- feminine singular of optatif
Latin
Adjective
optātīve
- vocative masculine singular of optātīvus