possessive
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle French possessif, from Latin possessivus (“of or pertaining to possession”), from possessiō (“possessing”), from possidēre (“to possess”). By surface analysis, possess + -ive.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /pəˈzɛsɪv/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛsɪv
Adjective
[edit]possessive (comparative more possessive, superlative most possessive)
- Of or pertaining to ownership or possession.
- (grammar) Indicating ownership, possession, origin, etc.
- Unwilling to yield possession of.
- He is very possessive of his car.
Translations
[edit]pertaining to possession
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grammar: indicating possession
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unwilling to yield possession of
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Noun
[edit]possessive (countable and uncountable, plural possessives)
- (grammar) The possessive case.
- (grammar) A word used to indicate the possessive case.
- 2023 June 1, Geoffery Nunberg, “The Nation: Parts of Speech; The Bloody Crossroads of Grammar and Politics”, in The New York Times[1]:
- Take the rule about pronouns and possessives that Mr. Keegan cited in his challenge to the testing service.
- 2024 August 10, Remy Tumin, “Is It Harris’ or Harris’s? Add a Walz, and It’s Even Trickier.”, in The New York Times[2]:
- The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal all do the opposite, opting for ’s to mark a singular possessive and a simple apostrophe for plural possessive (Harrises’ and Walzes’).
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]possessive case — see possessive case
a word that indicates possession or the possessive case
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See also
[edit]- possessive pronoun
- possessive adjective
- possessive determiner
- possessive suffix
- comitative
- genitive
- ktetic
- proprietive
French
[edit]Adjective
[edit]possessive
German
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Adjective
[edit]possessive
- inflection of possessiv:
Italian
[edit]Adjective
[edit]possessive
Latin
[edit]Adjective
[edit]possessīve
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms suffixed with -ive
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛsɪv
- Rhymes:English/ɛsɪv/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- en:Grammar
- English terms with usage examples
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- French non-lemma forms
- French adjective forms
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms