accusative

First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, borrowed from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Akin to accuse. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική (aitiātikḗ, “expressing an effect”). This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός (aitiātós, “caused”) +‎ -ῐκός (-ikós, adjective suffix), but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ- (aitiā-), the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι (aitiáomai, “to blame”), + -τῐκός (-tikós, verbal adjective suffix).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈkjuːzətɪv/
• (US) enPR: əkū'zətĭv, IPA^(key): /əˈkjuzətɪv/
• Hyphenation: ac‧cusa‧tive

• Audio (US)

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accusative (comparative more accusative, superlative most accusative)

1. Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame

   Synonyms: accusatory, accusatorial

   • Sir E. Dering

     This hath been a very accusative age.

2. (grammar) Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.

accusative (plural accusatives)

1. (grammar) The accusative case.

• (accusative case): acc., A.

accusative

1. feminine singular of accusatif

accūsātīve

1. vocative singular of accūsātīvus