Definition of factitive in English:
factitive
adjective ˈfaktɪtɪvˈfæktədɪv
Linguistics (of a verb) having a sense of causing a result and taking a complement as well as an object, as in he appointed me captain.
Example sentencesExamples
- "The boy popped the balloon," is factitive, because "balloon" is a factitive object, that is, an object changed by the verb "popped."
- Dutch has two factitive verbs, vernieten and vernietigen, which both denote "destroy" and appear in the same range of uses and collocations.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from modern Latin factitivus, formed irregularly from Latin factitare, frequentative of facere 'do, make'.
Definition of factitive in US English:
factitive
adjectiveˈfæktədɪvˈfaktədiv
Linguistics (of a verb) having a sense of causing a result and taking a complement as well as an object, as in he appointed me captain.
Example sentencesExamples
- "The boy popped the balloon," is factitive, because "balloon" is a factitive object, that is, an object changed by the verb "popped."
- Dutch has two factitive verbs, vernieten and vernietigen, which both denote "destroy" and appear in the same range of uses and collocations.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from modern Latin factitivus, formed irregularly from Latin factitare, frequentative of facere ‘do, make’.