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suppletive

[ suh-plee-tiv, suhp-li-tiv ]

adjective

, Grammar.
  1. serving as an inflected form of a word with a totally different stem, as went, the suppletive past of go.
  2. including one or more such forms:

    a suppletive paradigm.

  3. characterized by the use of such forms:

    suppletive inflection.



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Word History and Origins

Origin of suppletive1

1810–20; < Medieval Latin supplētīvus, equivalent to Latin supplēt ( us ) (past participle of supplēre to fill up; suppletion ) + -īvus -ive
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Example Sentences

However, when the processes of change fall into regular categories and patterns—retronyms or suppletive verbs like to be—they illuminate something bigger.

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suppletionsuppletory