attributive

American  

[uh-trib-yuh-tiv] / əˈtrɪb yə tɪv /

adjective

1. pertaining to or having the character of attribution or an attribute.

2. Grammar. of or relating to an adjective or noun that is directly adjacent to, in English usually preceding, the noun it modifies, without any intervening linking verb, as the adjective sunny in a sunny day or the noun television in a television screen.

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noun

1. Grammar. an attributive word, especially an adjective.

attributive British  

/ əˈtrɪbjʊtɪv /

adjective

1. relating to an attribute

2. grammar (of an adjective or adjectival phrase) modifying a noun and constituting part of the same noun phrase, in English normally preceding the noun, as black in Fido is a black dog (as opposed to Fido is black ) Compare predicative

3. philosophy relative to an understood domain, as small in that elephant is small

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noun

1. an attributive adjective

Other Word Forms

• attributively adverb
• attributiveness noun
• nonattributive adjective
• nonattributively adverb
• nonattributiveness noun
• unattributive adjective
• unattributively adverb
• unattributiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of attributive

First recorded in 1600–10

Example Sentences

I make my bread deciding whether a word is an attributive noun or adjective, parsing adverbial uses over conjunctive uses, writing those delightfully boring usage notes in your dictionary.

From The Guardian • Mar. 4, 2013

Milton inserts the adverbial clause in the predicate, which is not unusual; he then adds an attributive clause, which is not usual in English, though common in Greek and Latin.

From Milton's Comus by Bell, William

In such an interpretation nearly all the attributive features of these witnesses are ignored. 

From The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882 by Wild, Joseph

This is, perhaps,338 not the least of attributive charms, though it should be a minor one where this wonderful and real Mount, which takes its name from legendary St. Michel, is concerned.

From The Cathedrals of Northern France by McManus, Blanche

These compounds are usually nouns, or adjectives and participles used in a sense more appositive than attributive.

From Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book with Inflections, Syntax, Selections for Reading, and Glossary by Smith, C. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso)