Recommendatory

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Serving to suggest or advise on a matter without imposing a decision
2. Conveying a recommendation or endorsement to guide choice or action
3. Functioning as an expression of approval or advice to influence a decision

Etymology: Recommendatory is a plain formation: the adjective "recommend" plus the suffix "-ory," which turns a verb into an adjective meaning "serving to" or "having the function of" the action. "Recommend" itself came into English in the late 1400s, borrowed from Latin "recommendare," meaning "to commit to someone's care," from "re-" and "commendare," "to entrust." So the root idea is entrusting something to another person, a sense that survives in the modern word's notion of offering a thing for someone else's consideration. The "-ory" suffix came into English through Old French "-oire" and "-orie" from Latin "-orius" and "-oria," and it has long been used to form adjectives from verbs, as in "advisory," "mandatory," and "laudatory." "Recommendatory" follows that pattern, and the English adjective appeared in the 1600s, when writers were forming many such adjectives from Latinate verbs.

Synonyms: advisory, suggestive, prescriptive, recommending, proposing

Antonyms: discouraging, adverse, prohibitive, dissuading, preventive