gerundive

American  

[juh-ruhn-div] / dʒəˈrʌn dɪv /

noun

1. (in Latin) a verbal adjective similar to the gerund in form and noting the obligation, necessity, or worthiness of the action to be done, as legendus in Liber legendus est, “The book is worth reading.”

---

adjective

1. resembling a gerund.

gerundive British  

/ dʒɪˈrʌndɪv /

noun

1. (in Latin grammar) an adjective formed from a verb, expressing the desirability of the activity denoted by the verb

---

adjective

1. of or relating to the gerund or gerundive

Other Word Forms

• gerundival
  adjective
• nongerundive
  adjective
• gerundively
  adverb
• nongerundively
  adverb

---

Etymology

Origin of gerundive

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English word from Late Latin word gerundīvus. See gerund, -ive

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gerundive

Dink Stover, later to win fame at Yale, carried his whole Latin class by signalling with a pair of mobile ears whenever The Roman, their teacher, asked his favorite question, "Gerund or gerundive?"

From Time Magazine Archive

Special attention has been given to the constructions of participles, the gerund and gerundive, and the infinitive in indirect statements.

From Latin for Beginners by Benjamin L. (Benjamin Leonard) D'Ooge

Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the notably prosaic use of the defining gerundive.

From The Last Poems of Ovid by Mark Bear Akrigg

Absolute rigidity on Stover's part denounced the gerund, while a slight wriggling of his sensitive ears betrayed the approach of the abhorrent gerundive.

From The Varmint by Frederic Rodrigo Gruger

All editors, misled no doubt by 37, mispunctuate this passage, placing a comma before quorum instead of after: this destroys the gerundive quorum ... appellandorum, leaving the pentameter without a construction.

From The Last Poems of Ovid by Mark Bear Akrigg

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---