cy
1 Americannoun
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a suffix used to form abstract nouns from adjectives with stems in -t, -te, -tic, and especially -nt (democracy; accuracy; expediency; stagnancy; lunacy ), and sometimes used to form action nouns (vacancy; occupancy ).
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a suffix of nouns denoting rank or office, sometimes attached to the stem of a word rather than to the word itself.
captaincy; magistracy.
abbreviation
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capacity.
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currency.
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cycle; cycles.
abbreviation
suffix
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(forming nouns from adjectives ending in -t, -tic, -te, and -nt) indicating state, quality, or condition
plutocracy
lunacy
intimacy
infancy
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(forming abstract nouns from other nouns) rank or office
captaincy
abbreviation
Etymology
Origin of -cy
Representing French -cie, -tie, Latin -cia, -tia, Greek -kia, -keia, -tia, -teia; in most cases to be analyzed as consonant + -y 3, the consonant making the whole or the last member of the preceding morpheme
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And while Sotomayor noted that such cy pres settlements are rare, Frank said more will be on the way because of the 9th Circuit’s standards.
From Washington Post • Oct. 31, 2018
Chief Justice John Roberts has previously expressed concern about cy pres abuses.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2018
Prove that if a, b, and c are positive constants, then all solutions to the second-order linear differential equation ay″ + by′ + cy = 0 approach zero as x → ∞.
From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016
The decision marked the latest by a court to address so-called cy pres awards in class actions, in which money is dedicated to charity rather than distributed to the plaintiffs themselves.
From Reuters • Sep. 28, 2012
“Did anybody see which way he went? What an exciting day, what? Sa sa cy avaunt, cy sa avaunt, sa cy avaunt!”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
