formative element


nounGrammar.
  1. a morpheme that serves as an affix, not as a base, or root, in word formation.

  2. any noninflectional morpheme, whether base or affix.

Origin of formative element

1
First recorded in 1870–75

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use formative element in a sentence

  • There remains still one highly important thing to be considered as a formative element of the Japanese spirit.

    The Japanese Spirit | Yoshisaburo Okakura
  • It is the formative element in the karma as it has taken shape in bodily existence.

  • Humanism again comes forward as an important literary formative element.

    John Lyly | John Dover Wilson