Predicatively

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Used of an adjective or noun that follows a linking verb and describes the subject, rather than standing directly before the noun it modifies
2. Positioned after a linking verb so that it asserts something about the subject, as in the phrase the sky is blue
3. Functioning as the predicate or complement of a clause, describing a subject through a verb such as seem or become

Etymology: "Predicatively" is an adverb, so its history is really the history of two suffixes stacked together. The "-ly" at the end comes from Old English "-līċe," which in turn descends from a Proto-Germanic element meaning "body" or "form," so an adverb like this was once built by attaching a word for appearance to an adjective. The "-ly" thus carries the sense "in the manner of," and "predicatively" means "in the manner of a predicate." The middle part, "predicative," is the adjective it is built on. It comes from "predicate," which entered English from Latin "praedicatum," meaning "something affirmed," and its own suffix, "-ive," arrived through Old French from Latin "-īvus." In grammar, a predicate is the part of a sentence that says something about the subject, so a predicative adjective follows a linking verb, as in "the sky is blue," rather than standing before a noun.

Antonyms: attributively