commemorative
[kuh-mem-uh-rey-tiv, -er-uh-tiv]
- serving to commemorate: a commemorative monument; a commemorative dinner.
- (of a coin, medal, or postage stamp) issued to commemorate a historical event, to honor the memory of a personage, etc.
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- anything that commemorates.
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Origin of commemorative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for commemorative
Contemporary Examples
Temples could also serve funerary and commemorative functions.
Expect a boatload of commemorative coins, plates, T-shirts, and baby tchotchkes of all sorts to be sold.
It makes you wonder what the riflemen are going to do with their commemorative coins.
She was on the 1995 Special Olympics commemorative silver dollar.
She is the only living woman ever put on a dollar coin—a commemorative Special Olympics silver dollar.
Historical Examples
They were either prophetical or commemorative of some particular event.
Commentary on Genesis, Vol. IIMartin Luther
This act deserved to be celebrated in a commemorative picture.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4)Richard Muther
In a bridge the arch is triumphal, both for practical and commemorative ends.
The CollectorHenry T. Tuckerman
The Patriot of the 2nd of March thought it worthy of 345 commemorative words.
The Real Shelley, Vol. II (of 2)John Cordy Jeaffreson
There is no decoration—some commemorative tablets only—but it is enough.
South America To-dayGeorges Clemenceau
Word Origin and History for commemorative
adj.
1610s, from commemorate + -ive. As a noun meaning "means of commemoration" it is recorded from 1630s; as short for commemorative postage stamp from 1916.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper