copula
Americannoun
plural
copulas, copulae-
something that connects or links together.
-
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.
-
Logic. a word or set of words that acts as a connecting link between the subject and predicate of a proposition.
noun
-
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
-
anything that serves as a link
-
logic the often unexpressed link between the subject and predicate terms of a categorial proposition, as are in all men are mortal
Other Word Forms
- copular adjective
Etymology
Origin of copula
1640–50; < Latin cōpula, equivalent to co- co- + ap- fasten ( see apt) + -ula -ule
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In one episode the shirtless tribal leader Khal Drogo delivered a monologue for two and a half minutes in Dothraki, with its subject-verb-object structure and no copula, or linking verb.
From New York Times • Dec. 11, 2011
It is apt to be supposed that the copula is something more than a mere sign of predication; that it also signifies existence.
From A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive by Mill, John Stuart
By means of this representation, and the peculiar nature of the attribute, the verb is distinguished from the mere logical copula, with which it is liable to be confounded if these ideas are not understood.
From The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb by Brinton, Daniel Garrison
The first division of propositions is into Affirmative and Negative, the copula in the latter being is not.
From Analysis of Mr. Mill's System of Logic by Stebbing, W. (William)
But the two alternatives are propositions, and if "A is" represents a proposition, the "is" is not the Syllogistic copula.
From Logic, Inductive and Deductive by Minto, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
