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.”

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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

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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

At first recitation The Roman flunked Stover on the review, on the gerund and gerundive, on the use of hendiadys—a most unfair exhibition of persecution—on several supines, and requested him to remain after class.

From The Varmint by Frederic Rodrigo Gruger

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

NOTE.—This construction with the gerundive is not common till Livy.

From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett

With the genitive of the G. future passive participle, cālavā-nō, we have a kind of gerundive, as in hũ cālavānō chũ, I am to be gone, i.e.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various