Word.ws English Dictionary

megalocomparative

megalocomparative noun: of or pertaining to megalocomparison.

Noun

megalocomparative (comparative more megalocomparative, superlative most megalocomparative)

  1. (derogatory, historical, often, rare) Of or pertaining to megalocomparison.
    • The height of Benedictine megalocomparative ingenuity is reached in the concept of split cognates, i.e. cognates that have reflexes of at most one given proto-phoneme in common, since they descend from different syllables of a polysyllabic etymon.1990, J. A. Matisoff, “On Megalocomparison”, in Language, volume 66, number 1, →DOI, pages 106–120
    • In a recent disquisition on very large-scale linguistic comparisons, James A. Matisoff discusses the megalocomparisons performed by Joseph H. Greenberg on Amerindian and Benedict on AT, critically appraises their megalo comparative ^([sic]) methodology […]1992, La Vaughn H. Hayes, Mon-Khmer Studies, volume 21, pages 143–177

Forms of megalocomparative

comparativemore megalocomparative
superlativemost megalocomparative

Origin of megalocomparative

From megalocomparison, equivalent to megalo- + comparative. Coined by Matisoff (1990) in a critique of Joseph Greenberg's "mass comparison" (see quotation at megalocomparison).

Questions about megalocomparative

What does megalocomparative mean?
Megalocomparative means of or pertaining to megalocomparison.
What part of speech is megalocomparative?
Megalocomparative is a noun.

Words near megalocomparative in the dictionary

  1. megalocardia
  2. megalocephalia
  3. megalocephalic
  4. megalocephalous
  5. megalocephaly
  6. megalocomparative
  7. megalocomparison
  8. megalocornea
  9. megalocorneal
  10. megalocorneas
  11. megalocyte

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: megalocomparative (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.

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