Definitions of optative in English
adjective
(1) Indicating an option or wish
(2) Relating to a mood of verbs in some languages
noun
(1) A mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit
(2) A mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit) that expresses a wish or hope
(3) Expressed in English by modal verbs
Examples of optative in English
(1) This is not simply to avoid criticisms of judgment speech by translating it from the indicative to the optative mood.
(2) The second sentence transforms the first from an indicative statement of fact into something more like an optative expression of desire.
(3) The old neoplatonic shadow of what Emerson in u2018The Transcendentalistu2019 calls an u2018 optative mood,u2019 reconciling textual particular and idealist consciousness, is not as far away here as one might initially imagine.
(4) It is difficult not to grin, if Ptolemaic land-leases or Greek optatives or German monographs make you giddy.
(5) Of forms having a modal sense, how many are used subjunctively and how many optatively ?
(6) It can also be rendered optatively as in our English versions.
synonyms of optative
optative mood
