grammar

[ gram-er ]

/ ˈgræm ər /

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noun

the study of the way the sentences of a language are constructed; morphology and syntax.

these features or constructions themselves: English grammar.

an account of these features; a set of rules accounting for these constructions: a grammar of English.

Generative Grammar. a device, as a body of rules, whose output is all of the sentences that are permissible in a given language, while excluding all those that are not permissible.

prescriptive grammar.

knowledge or usage of the preferred or prescribed forms in speaking or writing: She said his grammar was terrible.

the elements of any science, art, or subject.

a book treating such elements.

Nearby words

Origin of grammar

1325–75; Middle English gramery < Old French gramaire < Latin gramatica < Greek grammatikḕ (téchnē) grammatical (art); see -ar²

Related formsgram·mar·less, adjective

Can be confusedgrammar grandma grandmother

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for grammar

At his best, he was an inventor of part of the modern cinema's grammar.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Fear of offending the grammar police can even produce a novel type of error called a hypercorrection.
Go Ahead, End With a Preposition: Grammar Rules We All Can Live With|Nick Romeo|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When you approached T.I., London Grammar, and Fall Out Boy to do this, what was their initial response to it?
How Questlove Is Bringing Music Back to Television|Kevin Fallon|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At one point did you think, “T.I., London Grammar, and Fall Out Boy together”?
How Questlove Is Bringing Music Back to Television|Kevin Fallon|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

What did those darned Muslims give us other than grammar and algebra?
Deconstructing David Brat’s ‘Scholarship’|Candida Moss|June 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It supported a grammar school, an almshouse for thirty-two poor people, and bestowed liberal gifts on the poor.
Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England|Edward L. Cutts
He could study the ancients with the young eyes of the Renaissance and read a Greek grammar like a book of love lyrics.
Varied Types|G. K. Chesterton
In these charters the peculiar characteristics of Italian orthography and grammar frequently appear.
View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 (of 3)|Henry Hallam
Of these about half were in the primary and the grammar grades and about half in the high school.
The Evolution of the Country Community|Warren H. Wilson
At a parish school near by, John learned to spell and to repeat the rules of grammar.
Four American Naval Heroes|Mabel Beebe

British Dictionary definitions for grammar

grammar

/ (ˈɡræmə) /

noun

the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology, sometimes also phonology and semantics

the abstract system of rules in terms of which a person's mastery of his native language can be explained

a systematic description of the grammatical facts of a language

a book containing an account of the grammatical facts of a language or recommendations as to rules for the proper use of a language

the use of language with regard to its correctness or social propriety, esp in syntaxthe teacher told him to watch his grammar
(as modifier)a grammar book

the elementary principles of a science or artthe grammar of drawing

Derived Formsgrammarless, adjective

Word Origin for grammar

C14: from Old French gramaire, from Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē (tekhnē) the grammatical (art), from grammatikos concerning letters, from gramma letter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for grammar

grammar

early 14c., gramarye (late 12c. in surnames), from Old French gramaire "learning," especially Latin and philology, "grammar, (magic) incantation, spells, mumbo-jumbo," "irregular semi-popular adoption" [OED] of Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatike tekhne "art of letters," with a sense of both philology and literature in the broadest sense, fem. adjective from gramma "letter," from stem of graphein "to draw or write" (see -graphy). An Old English word for it was stæfcræft.

Form grammar is from late 14c. Restriction to "rules of language" is a post-classical development, but as this type of study was until 16c. limited to Latin, Middle English gramarye also came to mean "learning in general, knowledge peculiar to the learned classes" (early 14c.), which included astrology and magic; hence the secondary meaning of "occult knowledge" (late 15c.), which evolved in Scottish into glamor (q.v.).

A grammar school (late 14c.) originally was "a school in which the learned languages are grammatically taught" [Johnson, who also has grammaticaster "a mean verbal pedant"]. In U.S. (1842) the term was put to use in the graded system for "a school between primary and secondary where English grammar is taught."

Culture definitions for grammar

grammar

The rules for standard use of words. A grammar is also a system for classifying and analyzing the elements of language.

grammar

noun

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grammar

noun

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grammar

grammar