Word.ws English Dictionary

absolutive

/ˌæbsəˈluːtɪv/

absolutive adjective: of or pertaining to the grammatical case prototypically used to indicate the sole argument of an intransitive verb, and the more patientive argument of a transitive verb.

Adjective

absolutive (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to the grammatical case prototypically used to indicate the sole argument of an intransitive verb, and the more patientive argument of a transitive verb.
  2. (rare) Of, exhibiting, or pertaining to absolution; absolutory, absolving.
    • (1) Absolution: The speaker says the act was not what was understood, and that it did not occur as charged anyway. [...] His repeated denials should be viewed as an absolutive strategy in which the facts themselves are disputed, [...]1986, Young Yun Kim, Interethnic communication: current research, Sage Publications, Inc
    • [...], the forgiving process is easier because the full cathartic effect, in all its absolutive power, comes into play after a heightened awareness of sinfulness.1991, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism, Jason Aronson

Noun

absolutive (plural absolutives)

  1. The absolutive case, or a phrase that uses it.
  2. An uninflected verb form used to indicate another action performed by the subject of the principal verb.

Forms of absolutive

pluralabsolutives

Words formed from absolutive

Phrases with absolutive

Questions about absolutive

What does absolutive mean?
Absolutive means of or pertaining to the grammatical case prototypically used to indicate the sole argument of an intransitive verb, and the more patientive argument of a transitive verb.
What part of speech is absolutive?
Absolutive can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce absolutive?
Absolutive is pronounced /ˌæbsəˈluːtɪv/.

Words near absolutive in the dictionary

  1. absolutist
  2. absolutistic
  3. absolutistically
  4. absolutists
  5. absolutival
  6. absolutive
  7. absolutive case
  8. absolutive cases
  9. absolutively
  10. absolutives
  11. absolutivity

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: absolutive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-absolutive.wav.

Cite this entry: “absolutive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/absolutive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.