disjunctive

American  

[dis-juhngk-tiv] / dɪsˈdʒʌŋk tɪv /

adjective

1. serving or tending to disjoin; separating; dividing; distinguishing.

2. Grammar.

   1. syntactically setting two or more expressions in opposition to each other, as but in poor but happy, or expressing an alternative, as or in this or that.

   2. not syntactically dependent upon some particular expression.

3. Logic.

   1. characterizing propositions that are disjunctions.

   2. (of a syllogism) containing at least one disjunctive proposition as a premise.

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noun

1. a statement, course of action, etc., involving alternatives.

2. Logic. disjunction.

3. Grammar. a disjunctive word.

disjunctive British  

/ dɪsˈdʒʌŋktɪv /

adjective

1. serving to disconnect or separate

2. grammar

   1. denoting a word, esp a conjunction, that serves to express opposition or contrast: but in the sentence She was poor but she was honest

   2. denoting an inflection of pronouns in some languages that is used alone or after a preposition, such as moi in French

3. Also: alternative.  logic relating to, characterized by, or containing disjunction

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noun

1. grammar

   1. a disjunctive word, esp a conjunction

   2. a disjunctive pronoun

2. logic a disjunctive proposition; disjunction

Other Word Forms

• nondisjunctive
  adjective
• disjunctively
  adverb
• nondisjunctively
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of disjunctive

1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin disjunctīvus placed in opposition, equivalent to Latin disjunct ( us ) ( see disjunct) + -īvus -ive

Example Sentences

Disjunctive, compressed, decontextualized, and, most important, cut-and-pastable, it’s easily reassembled into works of art.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 13, 2014

When the alternatives of the Disjunctive are not exclusive, we have only the Modus tollendo ponens.

From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth

But no Converse or Contrapositive of such a Disjunctive can be obtained, except by first casting it into the hypothetical or categorical form.

From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth

Roughly speaking, a Disjunctive Syllogism results from the combination of a disjunctive with a simple premiss.

From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph

Disjunctive, langi, langi fa, ma langi, ma ka langi.

From Grammar and Vocabulary of the Lau Language, Solomon Islands by Ivens, W. G. (Walter George)