The Collaborative International Dictionary
Agglutinative \Ag*glu"ti*na*tive\, a. [Cf. F. agglutinatif.]
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Pertaining to agglutination; tending to unite, or having power to cause adhesion; adhesive.
Syn: polysynthetic, holophrastic.
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(Philol.) Formed or characterized by agglutination, as a language or a compound.
In agglutinative languages the union of words may be compared to mechanical compounds, in inflective languages to chemical compounds.
--R. Morris.Cf. man-kind, heir-loom, war-like, which are agglutinative compounds. The Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish, the Tamul, etc., are agglutinative languages.
--R. Morris.Agglutinative languages preserve the consciousness of their roots.
--Max M["u]ller.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1630s, in a medical sense, from Latin agglutinat-, past participle stem of agglutinare (see agglutination). Philological sense is from 1650s.
Wiktionary
a. 1 sticky, tacky, adhesive. 2 (context linguistics English) Having words derived by combining parts, each with a separate meaning.
WordNet
adj. forming derivative or compound words by putting together constituents each of which expresses a single definite meaning [syn: polysynthetic]
united as if by glue [syn: agglutinate]
Usage examples of "agglutinative".
To which of the stages of language does this belong--the agglutinative, in which one root is fastened on to another, and a word is formed in which the constitutive elements are obviously distinct, or the inflexional, where the auxiliary roots get worn down and are only distinguishable by the philologist?
Turanian languages are marked by the same agglutinative character found in the American races.
Gwalchmai, while he wore the ring, could understand any language Merlin had known, this strange agglutinative tongue baffled him.
It is an agglutinative tongue, meaning that it is a collection of morphemes or syllables that are grouped into words -- very unusual.
Lopez may appear to contradict himself when be says that Quichua is an agglutinative Aryan language.
Aryan tongues had not yet reached the inflexional stage, and shows that while the form of Quichua is agglutinative, as in Turanian, the roots of words are Aryan.
Turanian languages are marked by the same agglutinative character found in the American races.
Gwalchmai, while he wore the ring, could understand any language Merlin had known, this strange agglutinative tongue baffled him.
Japanese idioms, constructions, and honorific and agglutinative particles.
Since Elvish is an agglutinative language, the various components of a name may receive stress according to their meaning rather than to their place in the pattern of syllables.