degrammaticalize

verb

To make less grammatical or not grammatical.

Scrabble 33
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Meanings

verbdegrammaticalize (third-person singular simple present degrammaticalizes, present participle degrammaticalizing, simple past and past participle degrammaticalized)

present singular third person degrammaticalizes · participle present degrammaticalizing · participle past degrammaticalized · past degrammaticalized

  1. transitiveTo make less grammatical or not grammatical.
  2. transitivehuman sciencesTo cause (an inflectional ending, etc) to undergo degrammaticalization.

    […] try to provide empirical evidence for the thesis that inflectional affixes can degrammaticalize into a derivational suffix or a clitic.

    2004, Pragmatics: Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association
    1 more example

    Using diachronic evidence from Swedish, I will show that inflectional endings may be maintained as “less cumulative” inflections, or even degrammaticalize into a derivational suffix or a clitic.

    2002, Ilse Wischer, Gabriele Diewald, New Reflections on Grammaticalization, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 45

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
degrammaticizedegrammatize

Origin

From de- + grammaticalize.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

degrammaticalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/degrammaticalize

MLA

“degrammaticalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/degrammaticalize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “degrammaticalize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/degrammaticalize.

Source: degrammaticalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.