copulative
Americanadjective
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serving to unite or couple.
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Grammar.
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involving or consisting of connected words or clauses.
a copulative sentence.
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pertaining to or serving as a copula; serving to connect subject and complement.
a copulative verb.
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serving to connect nouns, noun phrases, verbs, clauses, etc..
a copulative conjunction.
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of the dvandva type.
Bittersweet is a copulative compound.
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of or relating to sexual intercourse.
noun
adjective
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serving to join or unite
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of or characteristic of copulation
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grammar (of a verb) having the nature of a copula
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of copulative
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English copulatif, from Middle French copulatif, copulative, from Late Latin cōpulātīvus; see copulate, -ive
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.
But the conjunction is often omitted in copulative and adversative clauses, as in Sec.
From An English Grammar by Sewell, James Witt
Two substantives with a copulative being here, as is the frequent practice of our author, used for an adjective and substantive: an adjective sense is given to a substantive.
From Hamlet by Kean, Charles John
The time is not long past when the copulative in that title might have suggested to some minds an antithesis,—as acid and alkali, or heat and cold.
From The World's Best Poetry, Volume 4 The Higher Life by Carman, Bliss
The copulative or enumerative conjunctions, have only two degrees.
From Delsarte System of Oratory by Various
“Spirit of the Age”: “He used to plague Fuseli by asking him after the origin of the Teutonic dialects, and Dr. Parr, by wishing to know the meaning of the common copulative, Is.”
From Hazlitt on English Literature An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature by Zeitlin, Jacob
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.
