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

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Etymology

Origin of connective

First recorded in 1645–55; connect + -ive

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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

Bits of connective tissue can sometimes feel missing amid the action and the story’s lessons, particularly for Prue, don’t always land as strongly or affectingly as they could.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

By interfering with these signals, obakulactone reduced inflammation and fibrosis, a process involving excessive buildup of scar-like connective tissue, in rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026

Kate has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which affects connective tissue and was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary with a suspected intestinal failure.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Mr. Meyer’s connective work makes the lived experience behind these ideas easier to see.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

The connective tissue in his face is dissolving, and his face appears to hang from the underlying bone, as if the face is detaching itself from the skull.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

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

He often used words out of their natural order, omitted connectives altogether.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even more challenging, the optimal number of connectives depends on the expertise of the reader.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

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