Category:Appellative

Ap*pel"la*tive, a. Etym: [L. appellativus, fr. appellare: cf. F. appelatif. See .]

1. Pertaining to a common name; serving as a distinctive denomination; denominative; naming. Cudworth.

2. (gram.)

Defn: Common, as opposed to proper; denominative of a class.

Ap*pel"la*tive, n. Etym: [L. appelativum, sc. nomen.]

1. A common name, distinction from a proper name. A common name, or appellative, stands for a whole class, genus, or species of beings, or for universal ideas. Thus, tree is the name of all plants of a particular class; plant and vegetable are names of things that grow out of the earth. A proper name, on the other hand, stands for a single thing; as, Rome, Washington, Lake Erie.

2. An appellation or title; a descriptive name. God chose it for one of His appellatives to be the Defender of them. Jer. Taylor.