copula
Americannoun
plural
copulas, copulae-
something that connects or links together.
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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.
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Logic. a word or set of words that acts as a connecting link between the subject and predicate of a proposition.
noun
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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
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anything that serves as a link
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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 ( 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
Dismissing, for the present, the copula, of which more will be said hereafter, every proposition, then, consists of at least two names—brings together two names, in a particular manner.
From A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive by Mill, John Stuart
He thinks his fate alien, because the copula is hidden.
From The Voice of Science in Nineteenth-Century Literature Representative Prose and Verse by Various
In such a case as this, the verb expresses predication and nothing else, and is called a copula.
From Hume (English Men of Letters Series) by Huxley, Thomas Henry
Some logicians, among whom may be mentioned Hobbes, state this distinction differently; they recognize only one form of copula, is, and attach the negative sign to the predicate.
From A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive by Mill, John Stuart
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.
