What does factitive mean?
Factitive is a specialist grammatical adjective denoting a class of verbs that assign or bring about a property or status for an object. Such a verb commonly takes an object followed by a complement: in “The committee elected her chair,” “her” is the object and “chair” is the complement, which specifies her resulting status. Factitive verbs are also called effective verbs in some grammatical systems. The term should not be confused with factive: a factive verb asserts a proposition, as in “I know that the theory is sound,” whereas a factitive verb assigns or produces a property in an object. The label is consequently more specific than simply calling every verb that causes an outcome causative, because it identifies a recurring semantic and syntactic pattern. Although factitive is mostly encountered in linguistic description, the pattern appears throughout ordinary English, including expressions such as “make the room warmer,” “paint the wall blue,” and “find the answer convincing.”
adjectiveRelating to or denoting a verb that assigns or brings about a property or status for an object, typically by taking an object and a complement, as in “made the room warmer.”
- Of or relating to a factitive verb: one that assigns or brings about a property or status for an object, usually through an object and complement.
"The curator made the exhibition accessible to a wider audience."
"The committee elected her chair."
"The jury found the defendant guilty."
Behind “make him happy” sits a surprisingly precise piece of grammar.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of factitive
The word comes through Latin factitivus, a formation based on facere, meaning “to make” or “to do.” English grammatical tradition adopted it to describe verbs that present an object as having a particular property or status. Related English words descended from the same Latin root include factory, faction, fashion, and manufacture.
How factitive is actually used
This is a specialist term used chiefly in formal grammatical description. Its boundaries vary somewhat among grammatical traditions, so it is often distinguished from both causative and factive verbs.
Easily confused with factitive
A factitive verb assigns or brings about a property for an object, while a factive verb asserts a proposition, as in “I know that the theory is sound.”