Subjunctive
//səbˈd͡ʒʌŋktɪv// adj, noun
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Ellipsis of subjunctive mood. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable
- 2 a mood that represents an act or state (not as a fact but) as contingent or possible wordnet
- 3 A form in the subjunctive mood. countable
Adjective
- 1 Inflected to indicate that an act or state of being is possible, contingent or hypothetical, and not a fact. not-comparable
Adjective
- 1 relating to a mood of verbs wordnet
Example
More examples"With the subjunctive past all the 'be' verbs become 'were', OK?"
Etymology
From Latin subjunctīvus (“serving to join, connecting, in grammar applies to the subjunctive mode”), from subjungere (“to add, join, subjoin”), from sub (“under”) + jungere (“to join, yoke”). See join.
Related phrases
More for "subjunctive"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.