infinitive
Use Infinitive in a sentence
ɪ noun
1.
2.
(in English) the simple or basic form of the verb, as come, take, eat, be, used after auxiliary verbs, as in I didn't come, He must be, or this simple form preceded by a function word, as to in I want to eat.
adjective
3.
consisting of or containing an infinitive: an infinitive construction. Abbreviation: infin.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To infinitive
00:10
Infinitive
is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
infinitive (ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| a form of the verb not inflected for grammatical categories such as tense and person and used without an overt subject. In English, the infinitive usually consists of the word to followed by the verb | |
| infinitival | |
| —adj | |
| in'finitively | |
| —adv | |
| infini'tivally | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
infinitive
"simple, uninflected form of a verb," 1520, from L.L. infinitivus "unlimited, indefinite," from L. infinitus (see infinite). "Indefinite" because not having definite person or number.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
infinitive definition
The simple or dictionary form of a verb: walk, think, fly, exist. Often the word to marks a verb as an infinitive: “to walk,” “to think,” “to fly,” “to exist.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
The split infinitive offends many readers, so avoid it if you can.
Claim is not followed by an infinitive except when the subject of claim is also that of the infinitive.
Note that the next verb after do has to be an infinitive, not a tensed verb or a participle.
All three authorities concluded that where the infinitive is concerned, sense and readability should rule.
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