Word Meaning

Meaning of appellative

- Pertaining to a common name; serving as a distinctive denomination; denominative; naming.
- Common, as opposed to proper; denominative of a class.
- A common name, in distinction from a proper name. A common name, or appellative, stands for a whole class, genus, or species of beings, or for universal ideas. Thus, tree is the name of all plants of a particular class; plant and vegetable are names of things that grow out of the earth. A proper name, on the other hand, stands for a single thing; as, Rome, Washington, Lake Erie.
- An appellation or title; a descriptive name.