Conjugate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒn.d͡ʒə.ɡeɪt/

Definitions

1. To link or combine two or more things closely ; to alter the form of a verb to show tense, mood, voice, person, or number
2. To unite elements so they act as one ; to modify the structure of verbs to express different grammatical categories
3. To connect parts or units in a relationship ; to inflect verbs by changing their endings for various grammatical contexts

Etymology: The verb "conjugate" comes from Latin "coniugare," meaning "to yoke together," a picture drawn from harnessing animals side by side. Latin built it from "con-" ("with") and "iugare" ("to join"), and the same root gave English "join" and "yoke" through other routes. The verb entered English in 1530, while the adjective meaning "combined, united" appeared earlier, in 1471. The grammatical sense is the surprising part. In Classical Latin, the usual word for inflecting verbs was "declinare," and "coniugare" was not used that way. It appears to have been a later back-formation from the post-classical noun "coniugatio," meaning "conjugation" or "declension." So the sense of joining words into families of forms was a medieval and Renaissance development that Roman grammarians did not use for verbs.

Synonyms: combine, unite, join, link, merge

Antonyms: separate, divide, disconnect, detach, split