appositive
Americannoun
adjective
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placed in apposition.
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(of an adjective or adjectival phrase) directly following the noun it modifies.
adjective
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grammar
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standing in apposition
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another word for nonrestrictive
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of or relating to apposition
noun
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing appositive
Lesson 4
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Unit 6, Academic Vocabulary
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Conventions, Writing, and Speaking & Listening, Unit 4
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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.
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
A. The appositive is a word or a group of words inserted lo explain the noun that it follows.
From Business English A Practice Book by Buhlig, Rose
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.
