Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Expressing or designating repeated action.
  • noun A frequentative verb or verb form.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In grammar, serving to express the repetition of an action: as, dictito is a frequentative verb.
  • noun A verb which denotes the frequent occurrence or repetition of an action, as dictito (Latin) from dicto, vāvadīti (Sanskrit) from vadati, waggle from wag.
  • noun Abbreviated freq.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Gram.) Serving to express the frequent repetition of an action.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective grammar Serving to express repetition of an action.
  • noun grammar Refers to a subclass of imperfective verbs that denote a repeated action, no longer productive in English, but found in e.g. Finnish, Latin, Russian, and Turkish.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a verb form that serves to express frequent repetition of an action

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin frequentātīvus, from frequentātus, past participle of frequentāre, to repeat, from frequēns, frequent-, frequent.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin frequentativus, from Latin frequentare ("to do or use often"); see frequent. Surface analysis is frequent +‎ -ative.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word frequentative.

Examples

  • "frequentative" of WAG, thus meaning ` to wag frequently '

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3 1983

  • Spanish ‘jactar’ must come directly from the Latin single frequentative iactare, which also means among other things ‘boast’.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Jactitation: 2007

  • I agree with you on preventative, but you should know that frequentative is still the standard term in teaching frequentative Latin verbs to Latin students.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Some call it “frequentative,” but they need preventive, not preventative, medicine.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Some call it “frequentative,” but they need preventive, not preventative, medicine.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Some call it “frequentative,” but they need preventive, not preventative, medicine.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • I agree with you on preventative, but you should know that frequentative is still the standard term in teaching frequentative Latin verbs to Latin students.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • I agree with you on preventative, but you should know that frequentative is still the standard term in teaching frequentative Latin verbs to Latin students.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • What cerebration accompanied his frequentative act?

    Ulysses 2003

  • Some call it “frequentative,” but they need preventive, not preventative, medicine.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.