Grammar. of or relating to an adjective or noun that is directly adjacent to, in English usually preceding, the noun it modifies, without any intervening linking verb, as the adjective sunny in a sunny day or the noun television in a television screen.
noun
Grammar. an attributive word, especially an adjective.
Origin of attributive
First recorded in 1600–10
Related formsat·trib·u·tive·ly, adverbat·trib·u·tive·ness, nounnon·at·trib·u·tive, adjectivenon·at·trib·u·tive·ly, adverbnon·at·trib·u·tive·ness, nounun·at·trib·u·tive, adjectiveun·at·trib·u·tive·ly, adverbun·at·trib·u·tive·ness, noun
grammar(of an adjective or adjectival phrase) modifying a noun and constituting part of the same noun phrase, in English normally preceding the noun, as black in Fido is a black dog (as opposed to Fido is black)Compare predicative
philosophyrelative to an understood domain, as small in that elephant is small
c.1600, from French attributif, from stem of Latin attributus (see attribute (v.)). As a noun, in grammar, from 1750. Related: Attributively; attributiveness.
