What does completive mean?
Completive is a relatively rare, formal adjective meaning serving to complete or bring to a finished state. Its most established home is linguistics, where it names an aspectual category: a completive verb or aspect presents an action as completed or accomplished rather than merely ongoing. Outside that specialist context it can describe anything with a finishing or consummating function, such as a concluding passage that rounds off a work. The word derives from the Latin complēre, "to fill up or complete," the same root behind complete and completion. Because it overlaps in sound with compulsive, writers sometimes confuse the two, though their meanings are unrelated. Completive has no common derivative forms of its own and appears almost exclusively in academic prose, making it useful precisely where precision about endings and completion matters.
Serving to complete or bring to a finished state; especially in linguistics, denoting verbal aspect that expresses the completion of an action.
"The completive reading of the sentence implies that the task was fully carried out."
A word or grammatical form expressing completion of an action.
"The grammarian treated the perfect tense as a completive contrasting with the durative forms."
The noun sense is rare and confined to linguistic terminology.
Used only when referring collectively to linguistic forms classified as completives.
"The chapter surveys the completives of the language's past tenses."
Completive is a word you'll rarely meet outside linguistics seminars — but it's the technical term for the very idea of getting things done.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of completive
Completive comes from the Latin complēre, formed from com- (an intensive prefix) plus plēre, "to fill." English borrowed it in the early modern period alongside related terms such as complete and completion, all descending from the same Latin root. It shares that ancestry with cognates like deplete, replete, and even plenty, which entered English via Old French from Latin plenus, "full."
How completive is actually used
Completive is a formal, technical term found mainly in linguistic and grammatical writing; it is rare in everyday speech.
Easily confused with completive
"Compulsive" describes behavior driven by an irresistible urge or obsession, while "completive" relates to completing or finishing something.