Grammaticalize

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make grammatical. transitive

    "Enhanced output arises when learners grammaticalize their output either through the use of more advanced interlanguage forms or of target language forms."

  2. 2
    To integrate into a system of grammar; to make (something such as a constraint) an element or rule of grammar, to cause (something) to be required by grammar. transitive

    "That is, the cooccurrence restrictions do cross intervening specifications for the same feature. […] In the model, a linguistic constraint against homorganicity (which may grammaticalize constraints on motor programming) is enforced on pairs […]"

  3. 3
    To cause (a word, a suffix, etc) to undergo grammaticalization. transitive

    "Similarly to other classifier languages in South America and elsewhere, a number of nouns grammaticalize as classifiers and are also used as derivational suffixes, e.g. *-maka 'stretch (of cloth)' (from *maka “hammock'), […]"

Synonyms

All synonyms
grammaticizegrammatize

Example

More examples

"Enhanced output arises when learners grammaticalize their output either through the use of more advanced interlanguage forms or of target language forms."

Etymology

Back-formation from grammaticalization.

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