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Definition of "appellative" []

  • Of or relating to the assignment of names. (adjective)
  • Grammar Of or relating to a common noun. (adjective)
  • A name or descriptive epithet. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "appellative" in a sentence
  • "Terms that have both are called appellative terms and should be distinguished from substance terms or natural kind terms, which have signification by imposition."
  • "In older writings the term Arab is used only as an appellative, meaning "desert," or "people of the desert," or"
  • "In these cases we have what Jakobson calls the conative function, what other linguists refer to as the appellative, imperative or directive function."