connective

Etymology

From connect +‎ -ive, modeled after French connectif, from New Latin connectivus, from connectō (“I connect”); compare connect, connexive, connectivum, connection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈnɛktɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

Adjective

connective (not comparable)

1. Serving or tending to connect; connecting.
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     Society is doomed to an ignominious death as soon as the connective tissue of institutions and the ossified material of officialdom with its rank growth of unyielding red tape and formalism begin to spread, choking, and strangling the free, personal life of the individual.

Noun

connective (plural connectives)

1. That which connects.
2. (logic) A function that operates on truth values to give another truth value.
   • 2008 October 8, Holger Andreas, “Another Solution to the Problem of Theoretical Terms”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 3, →DOI:

     Condition iii) ensures that the truth-rules for the sentential connectives and quantifiers are satisfied within one and the same valuation ν_s.

3. (grammar) A word used to connect words, clauses and sentences, most commonly applied to conjunctions.
4. (botany) The tissue which connects the locules of an anthers together.
5. (anatomy, zoology) A connective tissue.

References

• “connective”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “connective”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.