commissiveadj.n.
/kəˈmɪsɪv/, U.S. /kəˈmɪsɪv/ A. adj.
1. Characterized by or deriving from delegation or authoritative command. rare after 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > delegated authority > investing with delegated authority > [adjective] > conferring authority of delegate
legative1548
commissive1613
1613 H. Jacob Attestation Divines vii. 145 (margin) Christ hath a Kingdome Commissive.
1635 in Cal. State Papers Charles I (1865) (modernized text) 96 To range the seas all the world over, according to his Majesty's letters commissive, dated the 27th February last past.
1682 J. Hickson Serm. at York Assizes 8 We must distinguish betwixt a Permissive and a Commissive Power.
1997 S. Clark Thinking with Demons (1999) xii. 630 Of this divinely commissive authority, all other forms of magistracy are derivatives.
2. Of the nature of or resulting from active agency; designating a deliberate act (esp. a sin or offence). Frequently opposed to omissive. commissive waste n. Law damage to leasehold premises caused by a deliberate act on the part of the tenant; cf. waste n. 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > doing > [adjective] > relating to or characterized by acts or deeds
actualc1350
commissive1614
1614 S. Jerome Moses his Sight of Canaan 484 The sinnes of thy youth and of thy age, omissiue and commissiue.
1640 J. Swan Redde debitum iii. ii. 128 In the commissive part the sinne of the generation is set downe positively... Or in the commissive part there is the act and the object.
1795 J. D. Gros Nat. Princ. Rectitude iii. i. 408 The duties incumbent upon the rulers of states and nations are either commissive or omissive, perfect or imperfect, duties they owe to God.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1836) I. 389 I have a will, which renders me justly responsible for my actions, omissive as well as commissive.
1864 C. G. Addison Wrongs & their Remedies v. 192 All tenants, whatever their term or interest, are liable for commissive waste.
1914 Northeastern Reporter 105 281/1 What is the distinction between such a commissive act that produces commingling of the funds and an omissive act.., which omission has permitted..the commingling of the fund?
2011 S. Arterburn Exceptional Life i. 21 Commissive, compulsive, self-destructive choices and actions we make and do.
3. Linguistics and Philosophy. Designating or relating to a speech act that commits the speaker to a particular action or course of action.
ΚΠ
1952 J. L. Austin MS Lect. Notes: Words & Deeds (Bodl. Eng. Misc. c. 395) f. 140 We may dispute as to whether these are not verdictive, exercitive, behabitive, commissive acts as well.
1985 A. Baier Postures of Mind ii. x. 198 We can cancel the apparent commissive force of a serious ‘I intend to be there’ by adding ‘but that's not a promise’.
1991 D. Vanderveken Meaning & Speech Acts II. iii. 72 A commissive utterance also creates a reason for the speaker to do what he commits himself to doing.
2013 M. Kissine From Utterances to Speech Acts vi. 148 No language is known to associate a prototypical sentential mood with commissive speech acts.
B. n.
Linguistics and Philosophy. A commissive speech act.
ΚΠ
1952 J. L. Austin MS Lect. Notes: Words & Deeds (Bodl. Eng. Misc. c. 395) f. 144 I suggest the following..five classes which are at least important even if not entirely distinct. Verdictives. Exercitives. Commissives [etc.].
1976 MLN 91 1611 ‘You are worth watching’ may be a representative, a commissive, an expressive, or even..a declarative.
1992 E. Hatch Disc. & Lang. Educ. iv. 125 The appropriateness of commissives..varies across language and culture groups.
2014 C. Ghezzi & P. Molinelli Disc. & Pragmatic Markers i. v. 64 These expressions..are never used in speaker-oriented acts such as commissives and assertives.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1613