optative
Americanadjective
noun
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the optative mood.
-
a verb in the optative mood.
adjective
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indicating or expressing choice, preference, or wish
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grammar denoting a mood of verbs in Greek, Sanskrit, etc, expressing a wish
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of optative
1520–30; < Late Latin optātīvus, equivalent to Latin optāt ( us ) (past participle of optāre; see opt, -ate 1) + -īvus -ive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the advanced seminar at Kanatsiohareke, Mina Beauvais, whose Mohawk name is Tewateronhiakhwa, was teaching students the optative, an arcane mood, akin to the subjunctive, that exists in Kurdish, Albanian, Navajo, Sanskrit, and ancient Greek.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 23, 2015
“Francis, you need the optative here instead of the subjunctive.”
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Page 987 The subjunctive present and thre preterites is lyke the optative, puttyng before the verbe, ueu, or come, etc.
From An Introductorie for to Lerne to Read, To Pronounce, and to Speke French Trewly by Giles Du Wés
The future optative was also a new formation, betraying its origin in the fact that it is almost entirely limited to Oratio Obliqua.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" by Various
Object clauses dependent on verbs denoting care, attention or effort, regularly take the future indicative ὅπως, though the future optative is possible when dependent on a secondary tense.
From A Greek Primer For Beginners in New Testament Greek by Wallace Stearns
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.