Word.ws English Dictionary

vocative

/ˈvɒkətɪv/US/ˈvɑkətɪv/

vocative adjective: of or pertaining to calling; used in calling or vocation.

Adjective

vocative (comparative more vocative, superlative most vocative)

  1. Of or pertaining to calling; used in calling or vocation.
  2. Used in address; appellative; said of the case or form of the noun, pronoun, or adjective by which a person or thing is addressed.
    • In English, the vocative may be indicated by an addressee–address separation comma, or by the particle O, as in "What is the matter, sir?", "Mother, listen!", or "O Lord".

Noun

vocative (plural vocatives)

  1. The vocative case
  2. A word in the vocative case
  3. A vocative expression
  4. (rare) Something said to (or as though to) a particular person or thing; an entreaty, an invocation.
    • [T]he two latter will hardly come neither, if they think it will be to hear your whining vocatives.1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter L”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […]...

vocative meaning in Hindi and Arabic

vocative in Hindi

of or pertaining to calling
संबोधित sambodhit
grammar: used in address
संबोधित sambodhit

vocative in Arabic

grammar: used in address
نِدَاء nidāʔ

Forms of vocative

Adjective
comparativemore vocative
superlativemost vocative
Noun
pluralvocatives

Origin of vocative

From Late Middle English [Term?], borrowed from Middle French vocatif, from Latin vocātīvus (“for calling”); a calque of Ancient Greek κλητῐκή (klētĭkḗ, “for calling; vocative case”) – from vocāre (“to call”), from Proto-Indo-European *wokʷ-, o-grade of *wekʷ- (“give vocal utterance, speak”). See Latin vōx.

Words formed from vocative

Phrases with vocative

Questions about vocative

What does vocative mean?
Vocative means of or pertaining to calling; used in calling or vocation.
What is vocative in Hindi?
Vocative in Hindi is संबोधित (sambodhit). See Vocative meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is vocative?
Vocative can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce vocative?
Vocative is pronounced /ˈvɑkətɪv/ (US).

Words near vocative in the dictionary

  1. vocationalizing
  2. vocationally
  3. vocationer
  4. vocationers
  5. vocations
  6. vocative
  7. vocative case
  8. vocative cases
  9. vocatively
  10. vocatives
  11. vocd

Source and license

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

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