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
Sometimes, to make his sense unmistakable, he will repeat a whole formula, with only a change in the copula.
From Hours in a Library New Edition, with Additions. Vol. II (of 3) by Stephen, Leslie, Sir
Relative.—In this system the formal relation is taken, that is, the copula may be any whatever.
From A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I by Smith, David Eugene
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)
We may, then, state the following rule for the conversion of propositions in which the whole relation explicitly stated is taken as the copula: Transpose the terms, and for the given relation substitute its reciprocal.
From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth
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.
