Definitions for: Appellative

[n] identifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others
[adj] inclined to or serving for the giving of names; "the appellative faculty of children"; "the appellative function of some primitive rites"
[adj] pertaining to or dealing with or used as a common noun

Webster (1913) Definition: Ap*pel"la*tive, a. [L. appellativus, fr.
appellare: cf. F. appelatif. See Appeal.]
1. Pertaining to a common name; serving as a distinctive
denomination; denominative; naming. --Cudworth.

2. (Gram.) Common, as opposed to proper; denominative of a
class.

Ap*pel"la*tive, n. [L. appelativum, sc. nomen.]
1. A common name, in 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 chosen it for one of his appellatives to be the
Defender of them. --Jer. Taylor.

Synonyms: appellation, denomination, denotative, denotive, designation, naming(a)

See Also: cognomen, moniker, name, nickname, sobriquet, soubriquet, title

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