Adverbializing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of converting words, phrases, or clauses into forms that function as adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs in a sentence; the formation or use of adverbial expressions; the act of adapting language elements to carry adverbial meaning
2. Transforming linguistic units so they operate as adverbs providing contextual information about time, place, manner, degree, or frequency; the creation or employment of adverbial constructions; the action of rendering words or groups into an adverbial role within sentences
3. The linguistic procedure of altering words or phrases to serve as modifiers specifying circumstances of actions or qualities; the development or application of adverbial forms; the conversion of different expressions into components that describe how, when, where, or why something occurs in discourse

Etymology: Adverbializing is a plain coinage from "adverbial," itself a derivative of "adverb," with the suffix "-ize" added to turn it into a verb. The "-ize" ending has an ancient pedigree: it descends from Ancient Greek "-izein," a verb-forming suffix that Latin borrowed as "-izare," passed on through Late Latin and Middle French, and reached English in Middle English as "-isen." English eventually settled on the spelling "-ize," and it became one of the most productive ways to create new verbs from nouns and adjectives. The result is a word that describes its own action: to adverbialize is to turn something into an adverb, or to give it the function of one. Grammarians use it when a phrase such as "in a hurry" or a noun like "home" is made to work as an adverb, so the suffix does exactly the job the word names.

Synonyms: modifying, qualifying, specifying, describing, clarifying

Antonyms: nounifying, verbifying, adjectivalizing, generalizing, vagueness