optative

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English

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Alternative forms

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  • (abbreviation, grammar): opt.

Etymology

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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

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

Adjective

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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.
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Translations

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Noun

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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

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Translations

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See also

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French

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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optative

  1. feminine singular of optatif

Latin

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Adjective

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optātīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of optātīvus