adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Of, pertaining to, or deriving from illocution, the performance of acts by speaking. not-comparable

   ""I pronounce you man and wife" is a descriptive statement, but also has illocutionary force."

Synonyms

All synonyms

illocutionalillocutional

Example

More examples

"The same locution could have a different illocutionary force in different contexts."

Etymology

From illocution + -ary.

Related phrases

illocutionary act

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