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View synonyms for copula

copula

[ kop-yuh-luh ]

noun

, plural cop·u·las, cop·u·lae [kop, -y, uh, -lee].
  1. something that connects or links together.
  2. Also called linking verb. Grammar. a verb, as be, seem, or look, that serves as a connecting link or establishes an identity between subject and complement. Compare action verb.
  3. Logic. a word or set of words that acts as a connecting link between the subject and predicate of a proposition.


copula

/ ˈkɒpjʊlə /

noun

  1. a verb, such as be, seem, or taste, that is used merely to identify or link the subject with the complement of a sentence. Copulas may serve to link nouns (or pronouns), as in he became king, nouns (or pronouns) and adjectival complements, as in sugar tastes sweet, or nouns (or pronouns) and adverbial complements, as in John is in jail
  2. anything that serves as a link
  3. logic the often unexpressed link between the subject and predicate terms of a categorial proposition, as are in all men are mortal


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Derived Forms

  • ˈcopular, adjective

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Other Words From

  • copu·lar adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of copula1

1640–50; < Latin cōpula, equivalent to co- co- + ap- fasten ( apt ) + -ula -ule

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Word History and Origins

Origin of copula1

C17: from Latin: bond, connection, from co- together + apere to fasten

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Example Sentences

Loquuntur moralistae, ut dixi, de copula carnali quatenus copula est sine respectu ad possibilitatem generandi.

How to beget a male or female child; and of the Embryo and perfect Birth; and the fittest time for the copula.

The moment we use the copula, the moment we express subjective inclusions, poetry evaporates.

Antisthenes 222probably considered that the copula implied identity between the predicate and the subject.

The first division of propositions is into Affirmative and Negative, the copula in the latter being is not.

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