What does "-ary" mean?

Of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also.

What is a synonym for "-ary"?

Common synonyms include: adic, al, ar, ese, ic, id.

-ary

//ə.ɹi// suffix

suffix ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Suffix

1
Of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also. morpheme
"devolution + -ary → devolutionary"
2
Ending of some substantives borrowed or inherited from Latin and French. morpheme
"dictionary, plenipotentiary"
3
Having the specified arity. morpheme

Synonyms

All synonyms

adic al ar ese ic id

Example

More examples

"devolution + -ary → devolutionary"

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English -arie, a back-formation from Latin and French-borrowed adjectives ending respectively in -ārius and -aire (more rarely from Latin adjectives in -āris: see exemplary and lapidary). Doublet of -eer, -yer, -ar, and -ier; see also the related -arian.

More for "-ary"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.