adjective
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grammar indicating that a noun involved in a construction refers only to a part or fraction of what it otherwise refers to. The phrase some of the butter is a partitive construction; in some inflected languages it would be translated by the genitive case of the noun
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serving to separate or divide into parts
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of partitive
1510–20; < Medieval Latin partītīvus divisive, equivalent to Latin partīt ( us ), past participle of partīrī to divide ( see party) + -īvus -ive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Apposition, 169; —— agreement, 169, 2; —— partitive, 169, 5; —— with voc. in nom.,
From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)
In prose, this superlative is not now very common; but the poets still occasionally use it, for the sake of their measure; and it ought to be noticed that the simple adjective is not partitive.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
Vocabulary.— aliquantum = considerable, used in the neuter as a noun, with a partitive genitive voluntariorum.
From Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Luce, Edmund
In all such expressions, the name of the thing divided, is understood in the partitive word; for a part of any thing must needs be of the same species as the whole.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
The explanation generally given is, that of is partitive, and that the expression is equivalent to one friend of my friends.
From Higher Lessons in English A work on English grammar and composition by Kellogg, Brainerd
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
