English

edit

Alternative forms

edit
  • (abbreviation, grammar): opt.

Etymology

edit

From Middle French optatif, from Late Latin optātīvus, a calque of Ancient Greek εὐκτική (euktikḗ, related to wishing), from Latin optātus, past participle of optāre.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /ˈɒptətɪv/, /ɒpˈteɪtɪv/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Hyphenation: op‧ta‧tive
  • Rhymes: -eɪtɪv

Adjective

edit

optative (not comparable)

  1. Expressing a wish or a choice.
    • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: [] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC:
      an optative blessing
    • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest [], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 64:
      [] then, in the optative retirement from hard science that building and opening a U.S.T.A-accredited and pedagogically experimental tennis academy apparently represented for him []
  2. (grammar) Related or pertaining to the optative mood.
edit

Translations

edit

Noun

edit

optative (plural optatives)

  1. (grammar) A mood of verbs found in some languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Old Prussian, and Ancient Greek, but not English), used to express a wish.
  2. (grammar) A verb or expression in the optative mood.

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

See also

edit

French

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

optative

  1. feminine singular of optatif

Latin

edit

Adjective

edit

optātīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of optātīvus