connective

English

Etymology

For connexive, borrowed from Latin connexīvus. Displacement of x by ct in Latin loanwords is very common. Compare connect, connectivum, connection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈnɛktɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

Adjective

connective (not comparable)

1. Serving or tending to connect; connecting.
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     Society is doomed to an ignominious death as soon as the connective tissue of institutions and the ossified material of officialdom with its rank growth of unyielding red tape and formalism begin to spread, choking, and strangling the free, personal life of the individual.

Synonyms

• syndetic (grammar & libr. sci.)

Derived terms

• connective tissue
• connectivism
• connectivist
• connectivity
• fibroconnective
• hyperconnective
• hypoconnective
• interconnective
• logical connective
• nonconnective
• sentence connective
• teleconnective

Noun

connective (plural connectives)

1. That which connects.
2. (logic) A function that operates on truth values to give another truth value.
   • 2008 October 8, Holger Andreas, “Another Solution to the Problem of Theoretical Terms”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 3, →DOI:

     Condition iii) ensures that the truth-rules for the sentential connectives and quantifiers are satisfied within one and the same valuation ν_s.

3. (grammar) A word used to connect words, clauses and sentences, most commonly applied to conjunctions.
4. (botany) The tissue which connects the locules of an anthers together.
5. (anatomy, zoology) A connective tissue.

Synonyms

• connexive (dated)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:connective

Derived terms

• connectively
• connectiveness
• sentential connective (3)

Translations

function that operates on truth values

Finnish: konnektiivi (fi) Icelandic: samtenging (is) f, tenging f, tengill (is) m Polish: spójnik (pl) m Portuguese: conectivo (pt) m Romanian: conectiv (ro) n Swedish: konnektiv (sv)

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “connective”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “connective”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.