presentative

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English

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WOTD – 26 May 2022

Etymology

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The adjective is derived from Late Latin praesentativus (“that presents for consideration”) + English -ive (suffix signifying belonging or relating to, of the nature of, serving to, or tending to, forming adjectives). Praesentativus is from Latin praesentātus (“presented, exhibited, or shown”) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives);[1] while praesentātus is the perfect passive participle of praesentō (“to present, exhibit, or show”), from praesēns (“at hand, present; existing; immediate; prompt; propitious; (grammar) present”) (the present active participle of praesum (“to be before something; to be in charge of; to command, lead; to preside or rule over”), from prae- (prefix meaning ‘before, in front; in charge’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before; in front”)) + sum (“to be, exist, have”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”))) + -tō (frequentative suffix). The English word is analysable as present +‎ -ative.

The noun sense (“construct that serves to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor”) is derived from adjective sense 3 (“serving to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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presentative (comparative more presentative, superlative most presentative)

  1. Presenting, or able to represent, an idea in the mind.
    • 1885 April, Robert Louis Stevenson, “[Later Essays.] On Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature.”, in Sidney Colvin, editor, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh edition, volume XI (Miscellanies, volume III), Edinburgh: […] T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable for Longmans Green and Co.;  […], published 1895, →OCLC, page 239:
      Of these we may distinguish two great classes: those arts, like sculpture, painting, acting, which are representative, or, as used to be said very clumsily, imitative; and those, like architecture, music, and the dance, which are self-sufficient, and merely presentative.
    • 2003, Melissa Raphael, “Holiness in Extremis: Jewish Women’s Resistance to the Profane in Auschwitz”, in Stephen C. Barton, editor, Holiness: Past and Present, London, New York, N.Y.: T&T Clark, →ISBN, part 4 (Holiness and Contemporary Issues), page 382:
      Now the face is a traditional metonym for divine presence in Jewish theology and, in its human form, the presentative image of God.
  2. (ecclesiastical law) Of a benefice, or the advowsons, tithes, etc., associated with a benefice: that a patron has the right to present.
    Antonym: donative
    • 1704, Henry Spelman, “An Account of the Worth of This Treatise, Taken Out of the Epistle to Sir Henry Spelman’s History of Tythes”, in De Non Temerandis Ecclesiis, Churches Not to Be Violated. A Tract of the Rights and Respects Due unto Churches. […], 6th edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […]; republished in Two Tracts […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], 1704, →OCLC:
      Mrs. Ellen Gulſton, Relict of Theodore Gulſton, Doctor of Phyſick, a very Learned Man, being poſſeſſed of the Impropriate Parſonage of Bardvvell in Suffolk, did firſt procure from the King leave to annex the ſame to the Vicarage, and to make it Preſentative; and having formerly the Donation of the Vicarage, ſhe gave them both thus annexed freely to St. John’s College in Oxon: Expreſſing many Godly Reaſons in a pious Letter of her Grant, to advance the Glory of God to her Povver, &c.
    • 1766, William Blackstone, “Of Incorporeal Hereditaments”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 22:
      Advowsons are also either preſentative, collative, or donative. An advowſon preſentative is where the patron hath a right of preſentation to the biſhop or ordinary, and moreover to demand of him to inſtitute his clerk, if he finds him canonically qualified: and this is the moſt uſual advowſon.
  3. (grammar) Serving to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor.
  4. (metaphysics, psychology) Of or pertaining to a presentation (“an image formed in the mind after an object is perceived”).
  5. (obsolete)
    1. Synonym of representative (“representing another, or representing a larger group”)
      • 1659, [Pierre Du Moulin], “Declaring wherein the Legislative Powers of Parliament Consists”, in [Matthew Playford], transl., The History of the English & Scotch Presbytery. […], Villa Franca [actually London: […] s.n.], →OCLC, page 72:
        [T]hat diſloyal Maxime, that the body of the State is above the King, is contradicted by the ordinary ſtyle of their papers preſented to the King by his Body: The Two Houſes [of Parliament] moſt humbly beſeech their Soveraign Lord the King, and they qualifie themſelves, the moſt humble and Loyal ſubjects of his Majestie, ’tis the Preſentative Body of the Kingdome who ſpeaks, and nothing by way of Complement but Duty: […]
    2. (rare) Of or pertaining to an act of presenting or giving an object to someone.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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presentative (plural presentatives)

Example

There appeared a cat on the window sill.

In the above sentence, the word there is a presentative as it introduces the cat and brings it to the attention of the person to whom the statement is directed.

  1. (grammar) A construct that serves to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “presentative, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “presentative, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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