optative

American  

[op-tuh-tiv] / ˈɒp tə tɪv /

adjective

1. designating or pertaining to a verb mood, as in Greek, that has among its functions the expression of a wish, as Greek íoimen “may we go, we wish we might go.”

---

noun

1. the optative mood.

2. a verb in the optative mood.

optative British  

/ ˈɒptətɪv /

adjective

1. indicating or expressing choice, preference, or wish

2. grammar denoting a mood of verbs in Greek, Sanskrit, etc, expressing a wish

---

noun

1. grammar

   1. the optative mood

   2. a verb in this mood

Other Word Forms

• optatively
  adverb

---

Etymology

Origin of optative

1520–30; < Late Latin optātīvus, equivalent to Latin optāt ( us ) (past participle of optāre; see opt, -ate ¹) + -īvus -ive

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

optative

In the advanced seminar at Kanatsiohareke, Mina Beauvais, whose Mohawk name is Tewateronhiakhwa, was teaching students the optative, an arcane mood, akin to the subjunctive, that exists in Kurdish, Albanian, Navajo, Sanskrit, and ancient Greek.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 23, 2015

“Francis, you need the optative here instead of the subjunctive.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Possibility was symbolized by the attachment of the suffix -ya to the stem, probability by the attachment of -a and -ā, and in this way the optative and conjunctive moods first arose.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

There are two present tenses, an imperfect, two perfects, a pluperfect, a present and a past frequentative, and three futures besides future perfect; there are also conjunctive and optative forms.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various

Their verbs have four moods, the indicative, optative, imperative, and infinitive, and five tenses, one present, three preterites, and one future.

From The Arawack Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations by Daniel Garrison Brinton

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---