a suffix occurring orig. in nouns borrowed from Latin that denote offices or functions (consulate; triumvirate), as well as institutions or collective bodies (electorate; senate); sometimes extended to denote a person who exercises such a function (magistrate; potentate), an associated place (consu...
Looking at perseverate and perseveration, you may guess that the latter was formed by adding a suffix to the former, but that is not the case. Perseveration is actually the older term. It has been around since the 1500s, when it was used as a synonym of perseverance (which at one time...
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lineament(n.) early 15c.,liniament, "distinctive feature of the body, outline," from Latinlineamentum"contour, outline; a feature," literally "a line, stroke, mark," fromlineare"to reduce to a straight line" (here apparently in an unrecorded sense "trace lines"), fromlinea"string, thre...
suffix 1.(forming adjectives) possessing; having the appearance or characteristics of:fortunate;palmate;Latinate. 2.(forming nouns) a chemical compound, esp a salt or ester of an acid:carbonate;stearate. 3.(forming nouns) the product of a process:condensate. ...
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