agential
English edit
Etymology edit
Adjective edit
agential (comparative more agential, superlative most agential)
- Of or pertaining to an agent or an agency.
- 2012 January, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 1, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60:
- Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.
- (linguistics) That forms agent nouns.
- 1918, Henry Bradley, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, volume IX, page 922, column 2:
- Even if the suffix be formally identical with the agential suffix, it has not the same function.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
pertaining to an agent or an agency
Noun edit
agential (plural agentials)
- (linguistics) An affix that forms agent nouns.
- 1986, Geolinguistics, page 19:
- Semantically, a majority of agentials refer to avian vocalization. Examples are: screamer, whistler, warbler, trumpeter, and the suffixless chat.