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accusative

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English

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Etymology

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First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse +‎ -ative. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική (aitiātikḗ, “expressing an effect”). This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός (aitiātós, “caused”) +‎ -ῐκός (-ikós, adjective suffix), but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ- (aitiā-), the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι (aitiáomai, “to blame”), + -τῐκός (-tikós, verbal adjective suffix).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /əˈkjuːzətɪv/
  • (US) enPR: əkū'zətĭv, IPA(key): /əˈkjuzətɪv/
  • Hyphenation: ac‧cusa‧tive
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

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accusative (comparative more accusative, superlative most accusative)

  1. Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame
    Synonyms: accusatory, accusatorial
    • 1641 November 22, Edward Dering, a speech:
      This hath been a very accusative age.
    • 1984 April 14, William F. Orrell, “Bad Business”, in Gay Community News, page 4:
      The proprietor of the store was rude, insulting and accusative.
  2. (grammar) Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Translations to be checked

Noun

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accusative (plural accusatives)

  1. (grammar) The accusative case.
  2. (grammar) A word inflected in the accusative case.
    • 1911, Hans Reichelt, Avesta Reader: Texts, Notes, Glossary and Index, Strassburg [Strasbourg]: Verlag von Karl J. Trübner, page 105:
      65 mošu tat̰ ās nōit̮ darəγəm yat̰ . . ‘quickly it (tat̰) happened, it (was) not long till . . . — drūm avantəm airištəm: according to Bartholomae IF. 12. 146 the author of this part was led to use accusatives here (instead of nominatives) by the preceding sentence yezi ǰum frapayeni.
    • 1944, W[illiam] F[rancis] Jackson Knight, “Language, Verse, and Style”, in Roman Vergil (Peregrine Books), Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1966, page 265:
      There is some antecedent in old Latin; but as usual the influence is Greek too, for Greek prose and poetry freely use accusatives which are to some extent adverbial accusatives, or accusatives of respect.
    • 2000, Mily Crevels, Peter Bakker, “External Possession in Romani”, in Viktor Elšík, Yaron Matras, editors, Grammatical Relations in Romani: The Noun Phrase (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science: Series IV – Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 211), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 181:
      Romani distinguishes dative and accusative pronouns formally and some Romani dialects use accusatives in constructions in which other languages employ a dative.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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French

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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accusative

  1. feminine singular of accusatif

Latin

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Noun

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accūsātīve

  1. vocative singular of accūsātīvus
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