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

Constructions of Adjectives.+—Adjectives that merely describe or limit are said to be attributive in construction.

From Composition-Rhetoric by Brooks, Stratton D.

In this line and the next the attributive clauses are separated from the antecedent: see note, l.

From Milton's Comus by Bell, William

Verbs that not only are relational but have descriptive power, such as sings, plays, runs, etc., are called attributive verbs.

From Composition-Rhetoric by Brooks, Stratton D.

As the dualism of extension and thought is reduced from a substantial to an attributive distinction, so individual bodies and minds, motions and thoughts, are degraded a stage further.

From History of Modern Philosophy From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time by Falckenberg, Richard