appositive

American  

[uh-poz-i-tiv] / əˈpɒz ɪ tɪv /

noun

appositives plural

1. a word or phrase in apposition.

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adjective

1. placed in apposition.

2. (of an adjective or adjectival phrase) directly following the noun it modifies.

appositive British  

/ əˈpɒzɪtɪv /

adjective

1. grammar

   1. standing in apposition

   2. another word for nonrestrictive

2. of or relating to apposition

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noun

1. an appositive word or phrase

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• appositively
  adjective
• appositively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• appositives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of appositive

First recorded in 1685–95; apposit(ion) + -ive

Explanation

In grammar, an appositive word or phrase is one that describes the word or phrase right next to it. "My cat" is the appositive phrase in the sentence, "I'd like you to meet Burrito, my cat." While this adjective, strictly speaking, means "beside" or "adjacent," it's most commonly used to talk about grammar. If you say, "I saw Lady Gaga, a famous singer, at the supermarket," you've used the appositive phrase "a famous singer," which describes Lady Gaga. Appositive can also be used as a noun. In the song "Do-Re-Me," from The Sound of Music, the appositive "a deer" adds information, explaining exactly what a "doe" is.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

appositive appositives

Saunders loves to parody legal language, thick with appositive commas and capitalized terms, because he understands how that junk works at cross-purposes — it’s rigidly precise but designed mainly to cover things up.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 21, 2022

By contrast, GPT-3 has no advance knowledge about syntax: There are no human-programmed algorithms to ensure that its subjects and verbs are in agreement, or that a comma is inserted before an appositive.

From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2022

The best modern sentences resemble Donne’s, with simple statements upfront, then a pileup, if need be, of clause upon appositive clause, clarifying, elaborating, potentially without cease — but casually, too, always ready to end.

From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2019

She also has a notable fondness for the appositive oblique: “the animal wildness of it,” “the hot nothingness of it,” “the glorious spectacle of it,” “the rough gray infinity of it.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 9, 2019

Pronouns, like nouns, are often modified by an "appositive" adjective, that is, an adjective joined loosely without restricting: thus—Faint and weary, he struggled on or, He, faint and weary, struggled on.

From Higher Lessons in English A work on English grammar and composition by Kellogg, Brainerd

How are compound nouns, appositives, etc., treated in the possessive?

From Word Study and English Grammar A Primer of Information about Words, Their Relations and Their Uses by Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)

The passages which the translator has omitted are not the obscure episodes or the long digressions, but the metaphors, the parenthetical phrases, and especially kennings and similar appositives.

From The Translations of Beowulf A Critical Bibliography by Tinker, Chauncey Brewster

Exercise 183—Explanatory Expressions Similar in use to appositives are— B. Words, phrases, or clauses that separate the subject from the predicate verb, the verb from its object, or the like.

From Business English A Practice Book by Buhlig, Rose