attributive

CEFRC2

/əˈtɹɪ.bju.tɪv/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Placed before a noun to describe or identify it.
02
adjective
Extra detail
An attributive word or phrase (see above), contrasted with predicative or substantive.

Examples

In Russian, attributive adjectives agree with nouns and pronouns in gender, number and case.
In "this big house", big is attributive, whereas in "this house is big", it is predicative.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 4
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Attributing; characterized by attributing; effecting attribution.
Modifying another word, typically a noun, while in the same phrase.

More examples

In context

In "this big house," big is an attributive, while in "this house is big," it is a predicative.
In "this tiger is a man-eater," man is an attributive noun.
ATTRIBUTIVE NOUN. A noun that modifies another noun: steel in steel bridge; London in London house.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In grammar, an blank adjective comes before the noun it modifies, like "red" in "red car".

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

ATTRIBUTIVE NOUN. A noun that modifies another noun: steel in steel bridge; London in London house.
2005, Thomas Burns McArthur, Tom McArthur, Roshan McArthur, Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
Since both Attributes and Adjuncts recursively expand N-bar into N-bar, it seems clear that the two have essentially the same function, so that Attributes are simply pronominal Adjuncts (though we shall continue to follow tradition and refer to attributive premodifiers as Attributes rather than Adjuncts).
1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 197
Grammatically, three ways of using adjectives can be distinguished: the attributive use, the predicative use and the adverbial use. We will only deal with the attributive and the predicative use here. In the attributive use, the adjective, within an NP, is attached to the head noun, e.g. a dubious company, a red balloon, the stupid driver.
2013, Sebastian Loebner, Understanding Semantics
To hate, &c.] Or thus, To be affected with hatred and horrour at. For abhor, though arranged in our dictionaries among verbs active, attributes an affection rather than an act of the mind. As the mind however is an active principle, all verbs attributive of what passes in the mind, even those we call neuter, attribute at the same time some mental act or operation. To grieve is reckoned a verb neuter; yet in grieving at some misfortune, the mind is not less active than it is in abhorring or loathing an object; which latter verbs are called verbs active.
1806, Benjamin Dawson, Philologia Anglicana: or, a Philological and synonymical dictionary of the English language ["A-Adornment"], page 36
* 947 आल and आट put after वाक् Speech, with it form adjectives attributive of much bad or improper speaking; as वाचाल, or वाचाट Who utters much bad language. * 948 […] affixed to nouns, with them form adjectives attributive of detraction,[…]
1808, Charles Wilkins, A Grammar of the Sanskrita Language, page 516

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Origin

adjective

From attribute + -ive.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

In grammar, an blank— adjective comes before the noun it modifies, like "red" in "red car".

Nearby

Origin

adjective

In grammar, an blank adjective comes before the noun it modifies, like "red" in "red car".