appellative
[uh-pel-uh-tiv]
- a descriptive name or designation, as Bald in Charles the Bald.
- a common noun.
Show More
- designative; descriptive.
- tending toward or serving for the assigning of names: the appellative function of some primitive rites.
- pertaining to a common noun.
Show More
Origin of appellative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for appellative
Contemporary Examples
In the curious case of Elle Fanning, however, the appellative is entirely deserved.
Elle Fanning on ‘Ginger & Rosa,’ Her Fashion Sense, Crush on Ryan Gosling, and MoreMarlow Stern
March 12, 2013
Historical Examples
The appellative "Elias" is in fact both a personal name and a title.
Jesus the ChristJames Edward Talmage
Wily Will justified his appellative; for, after suspicion arose, he was seen no more.
WaverleySir Walter Scott
So much for the name as an appellative; now for its appropriation as a generic.
That ayogriha is the name of the prince, not an appellative, appears from the Pli recensions.
The Gtakamlrya Sra
At the sound of the tender Russian appellative she turned to me quickly.
Marie TarnowskaAnnie Vivanti
appellative
- an identifying name or title; appellation
- grammar another word for common noun
Show More
- of or relating to a name or title
- (of a proper noun) used as a common noun
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for appellative
adj.
mid-15c., from Latin appellativus, from appellat-, past participle stem of appellare (see appeal). As a noun, attested from 1590s.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper