part of speech

American  

[pahrt uhv speech] / ˈpɑrt əv ˈspitʃ /

noun

Grammar.

1. any of the classes into which words in some languages, as Latin and English, have traditionally been divided on the basis of their meaning, form, or syntactic function, as, in English, noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

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part of speech British  

noun

1.  POS.  a class of words sharing important syntactic or semantic features; a group of words in a language that may occur in similar positions or fulfil similar functions in a sentence. The chief parts of speech in English are noun, pronoun, adjective, determiner, adverb, verb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection

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Etymology

Origin of part of speech

First recorded in 1500–10

Example Sentences

But these terms had not morphed into abstract symbols, nor did they spread to every other part of speech.

From Scientific American • Jun. 14, 2023

He asked for all the word’s information — its definition, part of speech, orthography, use in a sentence — but he didn’t need it, evidenced by a slight smile as he spoke.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2023

What is the mechanism for, say, changing one part of speech into another?

From Salon • Jan. 11, 2023

Understanding that language is composed of definite descriptions and predicates can help us remove some of the ambiguity and vagueness that is a natural part of speech.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

He thought of it as a new part of speech: the silent man.

From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers