connective

American  

[kuh-nek-tiv] / kəˈnɛk tɪv /

adjective

1. serving or tending to connect.

   connective remarks between chapters.

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noun

• connectives
  plural

1. something that connects.

2. Grammar. a word used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, as a conjunction.

3. Botany. the tissue joining the two cells of the anther.

connective British  

/ kəˈnɛktɪv /

adjective

1. serving to connect or capable of connecting

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noun

1. a thing that connects

2. grammar logic

   1. a less common word for conjunction

   2. any word that connects phrases, clauses, or individual words

   3. a symbol used in a formal language in the construction of compound sentences from simpler sentences, corresponding to terms such as or, and, not, etc, in ordinary speech

3. botany the tissue of a stamen that connects the two lobes of the anther

4. anatomy a nerve-fibre bundle connecting two nerve centres

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• connectivity
  noun
• nonconnectivity
  noun
• nonconnective
  adjective
• preconnective
  adjective
• quasi-connective
  adjective
• connectively
  adverb
• nonconnectively
  adverb
• quasi-connectively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• connectives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of connective

First recorded in 1645–55; connect + -ive

Explanation

Something that's connective connects or attaches things to each other. In grammar, connective words such as "like" or "than" connect clauses or phrases. A connective device on your computer, like a modem, connects it with the Internet, and connective tissue in your body connects organs, tissues, bones, muscles, and other body parts to each other. Sometimes a connective word or conjunction is also called a connective. The word comes from the verb connect, from the Latin root conectere, "join together."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

connective connectives

Due to lax collagen between connective tissues, muscles have to work harder to keep joints stable, leading to fatigue and pain, as well as clumsiness.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

The life I pictured appeared in View-Master slides, each image crisp and complete, with all the inconvenient connective tissue outsourced.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

That’s because when a snake bites and punctures the skin and transfers venom into the victim’s body, the venom attacks the skin, soft tissue and connective tissue beneath it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Those same mice were also able to eliminate sarcoma tumors, cancers that develop in connective tissues such as fat, muscle, nerves, blood vessels, bone, and cartilage.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026

The key linguistic couplers are connective words like because, so, and but.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

But other aspects - identifying different types of adverbs or distinguishing between subordinating and co-ordinating connectives - might raise eyebrows.

From BBC ● May 13, 2013

Throw in a few connectives to ease yourself in.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 27, 2013

You could imagine a language exactly like English except it doesn't have connectives like "and" that allow you to make longer expressions.

From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2012

In Pentimento she seems to take pride in leaving out connectives, or capping a half-told tale with a brief coda, unrelated except for the faintest resonance of tone.

From Time Magazine Archive

A failure to command coherence connectives turned out to be among the skills that most sharply differentiated the struggling students from their successful peers.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker