Meanings
- Of or pertaining to duration.
- Long-lasting.
Synonyms: diuturnal
- human sciencesOf or pertaining to the aspect of a verb that expresses continuing action; continuative. Part of the imperfective aspect, as opposed to the perfective aspect, of verbs.
plural duratives
- human sciencesThis aspect, or a verb in this aspect; a continuative.
In every section of this invaluable work new light is thrown on ancient problems - phrasal verbs (bring up, put off), phrasal-prepositional verbs (catch up on, come up with) [...] duratives, sentence adverbs, and so on.
1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 156
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveLong-lasting.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchduratif“lasting continuously (for a certain time)”
- Frenchduratif
- Englishdurative
From duration + -ive. Alternatively, borrowed from French duratif, from Old French duratif (“lasting continuously (for a certain time)”), via Anglo-Norman French, and existing in the form duratif from about the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, when the spelling was altered to durative under the influence of the literary Neolatin movement. Analogous to dure (“to last, to continue”) + -ive.
More words from French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan duratiu
- duratiulinguistics: expressing continuing action
Chinese Mandarin 持續型 /持续型
- 持續型 /持续型 (chíxùxíng)aspect
Finnish duratiivinen, duratiivisuus
- duratiivinenlinguistics: expressing continuing action
- duratiivisuusaspect
- duratiivinen verbiaspect
French duratif, duratif
- duratiflinguistics: expressing continuing action
- duratifaspect
Polish niedokonany, aspekt niedokonany
- niedokonanylinguistics: expressing continuing action
- aspekt niedokonanyaspect
Romanian durativ
- durativlinguistics: expressing continuing action
Spanish durativo
- durativolinguistics: expressing continuing action
Cite this entry
durative. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/durative
“durative.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/durative. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “durative,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/durative.
Source: durative on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.