copulative

American  

[kop-yuh-ley-tiv, -luh-tiv] / ˈkɒp yəˌleɪ tɪv, -lə tɪv /

adjective

1. serving to unite or couple.

2. Grammar.

   1. involving or consisting of connected words or clauses.

      a copulative sentence.

   2. pertaining to or serving as a copula; serving to connect subject and complement.

      a copulative verb.

   3. serving to connect nouns, noun phrases, verbs, clauses, etc..

      a copulative conjunction.

   4. of the dvandva type.

      Bittersweet is a copulative compound.

3. of or relating to sexual intercourse.

---

noun

1. Grammar. a copulative word.

copulative British  

/ ˈkɒpjʊlətɪv /

adjective

1. serving to join or unite

2. of or characteristic of copulation

3. grammar (of a verb) having the nature of a copula

---

Other Word Forms

• copulatively adverb

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

But the conjunction is often omitted in copulative and adversative clauses, as in Sec.

From An English Grammar by Sewell, James Witt

To speak in academical language, the conjunction in this case is the disjunctive 'or,' not the copulative 'and.'

From History of American Socialisms by Noyes, John Humphrey

That no number of connected singular nouns can govern a plural verb, unless they be connected by a copulative conjunction.

From A Handbook of the English Language by Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)

“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

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