Dictionary

purpositive en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɚpəsədɪv/ (General-American)
• /ˈpəːpəsᵻtɪv/ (UK)

Etymology

Etymology tree Middle English purpos English purpose Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English -ative English -tive English purpositive From purpose + -tive.

Meanings

1. (form-of, rare) Rare form of purposive
   form of purposive
   • […] the accidental sense may be obvious but the purpositive difficult to find. 1973 November 14, Harald Weydt, “On G. Lakoff, 'Instrumental Adverbs and the Concept of Deep Structure', Foundations of Language 4 (1968), 4-29”, in Foundations of Language, volume 10, number 4, →JSTOR, pages 569–578:
   • The searching or feeling movements of the processes have a significantly purpositive effect, and that the whole is the seat of life one is convinced beyond a doubt. 1890 September 14, Benjamin Kidd, “The Battle of the Eggs”, in Longman's Magazine, volume 16, number 95, via the Internet Archive, pages 504–518:
   • We used a purpositive convenience sample of adult patients with different rheumatologic diagnoses who were cared for at the out-patient rheumatology clinic at the HGM. 2004 January 14, Patricia Clark, Pilar Lavielle, Carolina Duarte, “Patient ratings of care at a rheumatology out-patient uni”, in Archives of Medical Research, volume 35, number 1, →DOI, →PMID, pages 82–86:
   • Future tense purpositive 將來的時言主意 1823, Robert Morrison, A Grammar of the English Language for the Use of the Anglo-Chinese College, Macao, China: Peter Perring Thoms, page 73:
   • The special symptoms for which these patients seek relief are the hemiataxia which interferes with purpositive movement of the limbs […] 1913, Gordon Morgan Holmes, “Diseases of the Optic Thalamus, Midbrain, and Cerebellum, and Their Treatment”, in William A. White, Smith Ely Jelliffe, editors, The Modern Treatment of Nervous and Mental Diseases: By American and British Authors, volume II, Philadelphia and New York: Lea & Febiger, pages 613–614:

Forms

Deriveds

purpositiveness · purpositivity · purpositively