accusative
UK /əˈkjuːzətɪv/ · US /əˈkjuzətɪv/ adjective, noun
Forms accusatives
- adjective Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame
- adjective (grammar) Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.
- noun (grammar) The accusative case.
- noun (grammar) A word inflected in the accusative case.
Synonyms
accusatory accusatorial acc. A. accusative case objective case accusing accusive objective
Etymology
First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική (aitiātikḗ, “expressing an effect”). This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός (aitiātós, “caused”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, adjective suffix), but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ- (aitiā-), the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι (aitiáomai, “to blame”), + -τῐκός (-tĭkós, verbal adjective suffix).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Producing accusations; accusatory. "This hath been a very accusative age." Sir E. Dering.
- adjective Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb terminates, or the immediate object of motion or tendency to, expressed by a preposition. It corresponds to the objective case in English.
- noun The accusative case.
Etymology [F. accusatif, L. accusativus (in sense 2), fr. accusare. See Accuse.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “accusative”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details