contentful
English
editEtymology 1
editFrom content (“subject matter”) + -ful.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒn.tɛnt.fəɫ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (US) enPR: kŏn'tĕnt-fəl, IPA(key): /ˈkɑn.tɛnt.fəɫ/
Adjective
editcontentful (comparative more contentful, superlative most contentful)
- Having content.
- 1988, Richard K. Larson, On the Double Object Construction:
- In answer to this question I want to propose that to is in fact always contentful—that it is never mere Case marking, strictly speaking—but that in certain contexts (namely, in V's headed by Dative-Shifting verbs) its grammatical contribution effectively "reduces" to Case marking and therefore can be suppressed under Passive.
- 2007 October 25, Robert Hanna, “Kantian non-conceptualism”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 137, number 1, :
- Indeed, it seems to me that the special character of non-conceptually contentful perceptual states entails that all perceptual states contain non-conceptual content in this essentially distinct sense […] .
- 2011, Steven Hales, What Philosophy Can Tell You about Your Dog, Open Court, →ISBN, page 214:
- Can one have contentful but non-conceptual thought? My guess is that we can and I take it that my guess is buttressed by our ordinary practice of talking about the behaviour of animals and pre-linguistic children.
Etymology 2
editFrom content (“contentment”) + -ful.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /kənˈtɛnt.fəɫ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
editcontentful (comparative more contentful, superlative most contentful)
- (obsolete) Full of contentment.
- a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). Of a Peaceable Temper”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
- How contentful the whole life is of him, that neither deviseth mischief against others, nor suspects any to be contrived against himself.
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 63:
- With the setting sun sending long shadows loping ahead of them over the smooth hillocks of the downs, they came up with the lagoon; a contentful return home, with appetite brisked up by a ten-mile walk, and plenty of food to satisfy it.