subcategorise
subcategorise is the alternative spelling of subcategorize.
Meaning of subcategorize
Verb
subcategorize (third-person singular simple present subcategorizes, present participle subcategorizing, simple past and past participle subcategorized)
- To categorize more specifically by placing in a subcategory.
- To practice subcategorization.
- As we see from the examples in (55):
(55) (a) John will put [_(NP) the car] [_(PP) in the garage]
(55) (b) ^✽John will put [_(NP) the car]
(55) (c) ^✽John will put [_(PP) in the garage]
(55) (d) ^✽John will put
the Verb put subcategorizes (i.e. ‘takesʼ) obligatory NP and PP complements (to simplify...1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 421
- As we see from the examples in (55):
Forms of subcategorise
| third-person singular present | subcategorises |
|---|---|
| present participle | subcategorising |
| past participle | subcategorised |
| past | subcategorised |
Origin of subcategorise
From sub- + categorise.
Words formed from subcategorise
Questions about subcategorise
- What is subcategorise the alternative spelling of?
- Subcategorise is the alternative spelling of subcategorize.
Words near subcategorise in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: subcategorise (page history and authors); subcategorize (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:
Cite this entry: “subcategorise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/subcategorise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.