Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to the assignment of names.
- adjective Grammar Of or relating to a common noun.
- noun A name or descriptive epithet.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having the character of an appellation; serving to name or mark out; serving as a distinctive denomination; denominative: as, hydrochloric is a term appellative of a certain acid.
- In grammar, common, as applied to a noun; general; denominative of a class: opposed to proper.
- noun In grammar, a common name in distinction from a proper name; a name standing for a whole class: thus, the word man is the appellative of the whole human race, fowl of all winged animals, tree of all plants of a particular class, etc.
- noun Title; appellation; nickname.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A common name, in distinction from a proper name. A common name, or
appellative , stands for a whole class, genus, or species of beings, or for universal ideas. Thus,tree is the name of all plants of a particular class;plant andvegetable are names of things that grow out of the earth. A proper name, on the other hand, stands for a single thing; as,Rome ,Washington ,Lake Erie . - noun An appellation or title; a descriptive name.
- adjective Pertaining to a common name; serving as a distinctive denomination; denominative; naming.
- adjective (Gram.) Common, as opposed to
proper ; denominative of a class.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective grammar Of or pertaining to a
common noun . - adjective Of or pertaining to ascribing
names . - noun A common noun.
- noun An
epithet .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective pertaining to or dealing with or used as a common noun
- noun identifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others
- adjective inclined to or serving for the giving of names
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word appellative.
Examples
-
Terms that have both are called appellative terms and should be distinguished from substance terms or natural kind terms, which have signification by imposition.
Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy Lagerlund, Henrik 2004
-
In older writings the term Arab is used only as an appellative, meaning "desert," or "people of the desert," or
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
-
In these cases we have what Jakobson calls the conative function, what other linguists refer to as the appellative, imperative or directive function.
Archive 2008-09-01 Hal Duncan 2008
-
As such, Hamburger is equal parts myth debunker and modernization theorizer; Pizza traces transatlantic classism, corporate globalization, and methodology-as-variety; and Pancake offers an iterative look at comfort food, cultural controversy, and appellative breadth.
Cover to Cover 2008
-
As such, Hamburger is equal parts myth debunker and modernization theorizer; Pizza traces transatlantic classism, corporate globalization, and methodology-as-variety; and Pancake offers an iterative look at comfort food, cultural controversy, and appellative breadth.
Cover to Cover 2008
-
In these cases we have what Jakobson calls the conative function, what other linguists refer to as the appellative, imperative or directive function.
Notes on Strange Fiction: Narrative's Function (2) Hal Duncan 2008
-
Being side by side with homebrew frames will certain be very appellative to corporations after a young audience who is shifting TV for YouTube.
-
“Ay, or in the case of a man having made the country too hot for him under his own proper appellative,” said Mr. Touchwood.
Saint Ronan's Well 2008
-
“I am coming, — I am coming,” said the person who answered to that appellative; and then reiterating hastily,
-
As an appellative or a pejorative, it is a term that was used quite widely; in fact, we can trace the term back almost a thousand years before the time of Moses.
mollusque commented on the word appellative
adj., designating by name a thing of which more than one exists; related to the giving of names.
n., a common (as opposed to proper) noun; appellation.
July 13, 2008