grammatical aspect

noun

The aspect of a verb phrase (verb group) or other predicate – its temporal structure or relationship to the time of use – marked through any of various grammatical elements, as distinguished from lexical aspect.

Meanings

noungrammatical aspect (plural grammatical aspects)

plural grammatical aspects

  1. grammarThe aspect of a verb phrase (verb group) or other predicate – its temporal structure or relationship to the time of use – marked through any of various grammatical elements, as distinguished from lexical aspect.

    While lexical aspect presents information about the inherent lexical properties of the verb and verb phrase, grammatical aspect, on the other hand, signals the boundaries of an event.

    2010, Miren Hodgson, Telicity and the Syntax-Semantics of the Object and Subject, page 11
    1 more example

    Within the framework of a distinction between grammatical and lexical aspect, the category grammatical aspect, which is usually realized in the morphology of the verb, includes the imperfective and the perfective aspect, whereas the lexical aspect concerns the situation types (Aktionsarten) of the verb, i.e. it is inherent to the semantics of the verb.

    2014, Barbara Meisterernst, Tense and Aspect in Han Period Chinese, page 15

    Antonyms: lexical aspect, aktionsart

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe aspect of a verb phrase (verb group) or other predicate – its temporal structure or relationship to the time of use – marked through any of various grammatical elements, as distinguished from lexical aspect.

Translations

German Aspekt
  • Aspektaspect of a verb phrase
Hungarian igeszemlélet, igeaspektus
  • igeszemléletaspect of a verb phrase
  • igeaspektusaspect of a verb phrase
  • aspektualitásaspect of a verb phrase
Polish aspekt
  • aspektaspect of a verb phrase
Cite this entry
APA

grammatical aspect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grammatical%20aspect

MLA

“grammatical aspect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grammatical%20aspect. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grammatical aspect,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grammatical%20aspect.

Source: grammatical aspect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.