accusative

Meanings

Adjective

• Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame
• Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.

Noun

• The accusative case.

Related

Similar words

• acc., A.

Origin

• First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus, from accūsō. Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική. This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός + -ῐκός, but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ-, the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι, + -τῐκός.