Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps


Noun: inanimacy
  1. (linguistics) The characteristic of a noun, in some languages, that is dependent on its unliving or non-sentient nature; this characteristic affects grammatical features (it can modify verbs used with the noun, affect the noun's declension etc).
    "In other words, the inanimacy of a head noun like "evidence" appeared not to penetrate the syntactic analysis of the verb "examined.""

Type of: grammatical category, syntactic category

Nearest

inadvisable
inaesthetic
inalienability
inalienable
inalienably
inalterable
inamorata
inamorato
inane
inanely
inanimacy
inanimate
inanimately
inanimateness
inanition
inanity
Inanna
inapplicability
inapplicable
inapposite
inappositeness