gerundive

American  

[juh-ruhn-div] / dʒəˈrʌn dɪv /

noun

1. (in Latin) a verbal adjective similar to the gerund in form and noting the obligation, necessity, or worthiness of the action to be done, as legendus in Liber legendus est, “The book is worth reading.”

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adjective

1. resembling a gerund.

gerundive British  

/ ˌdʒɛrənˈdaɪvəl, dʒɪˈrʌndɪv /

noun

1. (in Latin grammar) an adjective formed from a verb, expressing the desirability of the activity denoted by the verb

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adjective

1. of or relating to the gerund or gerundive

Other Word Forms

• gerundival adjective
• gerundively adverb
• nongerundive adjective
• nongerundively adverb

Etymology

Origin of gerundive

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English word from Late Latin word gerundīvus. See gerund, -ive

Example Sentences

Dink Stover, later to win fame at Yale, carried his whole Latin class by signalling with a pair of mobile ears whenever The Roman, their teacher, asked his favorite question, "Gerund or gerundive?"

From Time Magazine Archive

Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the notably prosaic use of the defining gerundive.

From The Last Poems of Ovid by Akrigg, Mark Bear

Lovely, with a show of insouciance, bagged three gerunds and one gerundive.

From The Varmint by Gruger, Frederic Rodrigo

The potency of right methods.—A teacher of Latin once used twenty minutes in a violent attempt to explain the difference between the gerund construction and the gerundive construction.

From The Vitalized School by Pearson, Francis B.

The last would seem to be a gerundive form, implying that a man at the end of his fourth year ought to be made a Master of Arts; but unfortunately this does not always happen. 

From The Scarlet Gown being verses by a St. Andrews Man by Murray, Robert F. (Robert Fuller)