Dictionary
da•tive
Pronunciation: (dā'tiv), [key] Gram.
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adj.
(in certain inflected languages, as Latin, Greek, and German) noting a case having as a distinctive function indication of the indirect object of a verb or the object of certain prepositions.
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n.
1. the dative case.
2. a word or form in that case, as Latin
regi in
regi haec dicite meaning “tell this to the king.”
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.