Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Denoting address: applied to grammatical forms: as, a compellative case; the compellative use of a word.
- noun In grammar, a name by which a person is addressed; a proper name.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Gram.) The name by which a person is addressed; an appellative.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun grammar The
name by which a person isaddressed ; anappellative .
Etymologies
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Examples
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So I expose them to the objective complement and the compellative, and then stand aghast at their behavior when they make all the mistakes that can possibly be made in using a given number of words.
Reveries of a Schoolmaster Francis B. Pearson
qms commented on the word compellative
For some the word fund has a top;
They coin a few terms and then stop.
There's one compellative
For "aged male relative:"
Every old guy is called "Pop."
October 12, 2014