| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024in•fin•i•tive /ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv/USA pronunciation n. [countable]- GrammarThis word is the name of a verb form that in many languages names the action of a verb but is separate from the verb; it may function as a noun, adjective, or adverb. It is often translated into English with the word "to'' before it:The Spanish infinitive hablar means "to speak.''
- This word, when referring to English verb forms, is used
- in some grammar books to mean "the root form of the verb;
the form that follows certain modal verbs, or that comes after (but does not include) the word to:''We use the infinitive without to after words like must and should, as in "We must go;
we should leave,'' where go and leave are the infinitives. - in this dictionary and in many grammar books, to mean "the word to, followed by the root form of the verb:''We can use the infinitive of the verb as the subject of a sentence; the phrase to err is the infinitive and is the subject of the sentence "To err is human.''
adj. [before a noun] - Grammarconsisting of or containing an infinitive:an infinitive clause.
in•fin•i•ti•val /ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtaɪvəl/, adj. USA pronunciation In this book, the term root is used for the basic form of a verb, esp. the form that appears after the word to and in commands (compare imperative). The term infinitive is used in this book for the construction made up of to and a following root form of a verb. Thus, the word take is called the root, and the construction to take is called the infinitive. WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024in•fin•i•tive (in fin′i tiv),USA pronunciation [Gram.]n. - Grammara verb form found in many languages that functions as a noun or is used with auxiliary verbs, and that names the action or state without specifying the subject, as French venir "to come,'' Latin esse "to be,'' fuisse "to have been.''
- Grammar(in English) the simple or basic form of the verb, as come, take, eat, be, used after auxiliary verbs, as in I didn't come, He must be, or this simple form preceded by a function word, as to in I want to eat.
adj. - Grammarconsisting of or containing an infinitive:an infinitive construction. Abbr.:infin.
- Late Latin infīnītīvus indefinite, equivalent. to in- in-3 + fīnītīvus definite; see finite, -ive
- late Middle English 1425–75
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: infinitive /ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv/ n - a form of the verb not inflected for grammatical categories such as tense and person and used without an overt subject. In English, the infinitive usually consists of the word to followed by the verb
infinitival /ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtaɪvəl/ adj inˈfinitively, ˌinfiniˈtivally adv |