What does "ergative" mean?

Ellipsis of ergative case (“a grammatical case used to indicate the agent of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages”).

What is a synonym for "ergative"?

Common synonyms include: elliptical, ergative case.

Ergative

//ˈɜːɡətɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Ellipsis of ergative case (“a grammatical case used to indicate the agent of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
"Samoan, for example, differs from the usual pattern displayed by split ergative languages in that the appearance of the ergative is grounded in sociolinguistic factors as well as syntactic ones. The more formal register of Samoan requires the ergative on all postverbal transitive subjects. The less formal register allows the ergative not to be expressed at all."
2
An ergative verb or other expression.
"Unlike those with subjectivized ergatives, such locative clauses naturally do not allow for imperatives (*Contain the apples)."

Adjective

1
With the subject of a transitive construction having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of an intransitive construction. not-comparable
"The case systems of ergative languages are counter-intuitive to speakers of many Indo-European languages."

Synonyms

All synonyms

elliptical ergative case

Antonyms

All antonyms

unergative

Example

More examples

"There are many ergative languages in the world and Basque is one of them."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐργᾰ́της (ergắtēs, “labourer, worker”) + English -ive (suffix meaning ‘belong or relating to; of the nature of; serving to; tending to’ forming adjectives).

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