left-branching

American

[left-bran-ching, -brahn-] / ˈlɛftˌbræn tʃɪŋ, -ˌbrɑn- /

adjective

Linguistics.

(of a grammatical construction) characterized by greater structural complexity in the position preceding the head, as the phrase my brother's friend's house; having most of the constituents on the left in a tree diagram (right-branching ).

Etymology

Origin of left-branching

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The full English menu, though, offers them a few left-branching options.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

But if the branch is bushy, or if one branch is packed inside another, a left-branching structure can give the reader a headache.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023