What does "jussive" mean?

The jussive mood, a verb inflection used to indicate a command, permission or agreement with a request; an instance of a verb so inflected.

What is a synonym for "jussive"?

Common synonyms include: apocopate, apocopate, commanding, compelling, decretory, directive.

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The jussive mood, a verb inflection used to indicate a command, permission or agreement with a request; an instance of a verb so inflected. countable, uncountable, usually
"For example, in the Aaronide blessing, only two of the six verbs are formally jussives, yet all have the same volitional sense."
2
A verbal mood of vague or miscellaneous senses, occurring after some particles and in conditional clauses. Arabic, uncountable, usually

Adjective

"For example, in the Aaronide blessing, only two of the six verbs are formally jussives, yet all have the same volitional sense."

From Latin jussus, perfect participle of jubeō (variant of iubeō), 'to order, command'. Related to Latin iūs (“law, order”).

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