In morphology, a construction expressing sameness or similarity of manner or being, such as the compoundsdead loss and ice cold.
Similitive meanings may also be conveyed by -like and other suffixes (as shown below in Examples and Observations). These suffixes are sometimes called extenders.
As noted in The Oxford Reference Guide to English Morphology (2013), similative affixes are "reliably qualitative, occurring easily in predicative position, or modified by degree adverbs, or in the comparative or superlative."
See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "similar," + the suffix-ative
Examples and Observations:
- "During the show, to the jesting and prompting of clowns, an elephant of snow-white complexion performed humiliating and belittling tasks, and as he did, not unexpectedly, his 'whiteness' left a white mark on everything he touched."
(Rita Ringis, Elephants of Thailand: Myth, Art, and Reality. Oxford University Press, 1996) - "There is a marked distinction between what we believe to be true and what is truth, as there is an ocean-wide difference between reason and reasoning."
(James B. Belford, "Truth." The Writings and Speeches of Hon. James B. Belford, ed. by William B. McClelland, 1897) - "His skin was the color of uncooked fish, and his small, rat-like eyes had to them the irritated squint of a newborn."
(Ronald Malfi, Shamrock Alley. Medallion, 2009) - "The oxen lift their noses to heaven, with a strange and beseeching snake-like movement, and taking tiny little steps with their frail feet, move slantingly across the slope-face, between rocks and tree-roots."
(D.H. Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia, 1921)
- "I was led into the house. Mary Jane's house had a tardis-like [derived from TARDIS, the spacecraft and time machine in the British science fiction program Doctor Who] quality of appearing small for the outside but pretty big once you got in."
(C.N. Barton, The Cambridge Diaries: A Tale of Friendship, Love and Economics. Janus, 2007) - "Without meaning to be rude, the décor looked a bit John Wayneish [derived from the name of an American actor], too."
(Mike Hyde, Twisting Throttle America. HarperCollins, 2010) - "Howard McGillin sang 'I Won't Send Roses' thrillingly, and the audience went nuts for Caroline O'Connor, who has a Judy Garlandy [derived from the name of an American singer] sort of voice that is really exciting."
(Jerry Herman and Marilyn Stasio, Showtune: A Memoir by Jerry Herman. Dutton, 1996) - "A police officer in the unusual company of a humanoid robot would very likely be a responsible man in the organization."
(Isaac Asimov, The Caves of Steel. Doubleday, 1954) - The Elements -like, -ish, -y, -esque, and -oid
"[T]here is the status of the element -like . . ., [which should] be considered a compound element (and not even a 'semi-suffix,' as in Marchand 1969: 356). We nevertheless treat -like here on a par with suffixes for practical reasons. Together with -ish, -y, -esque, and -oid it forms a set of closely related formatives that all derive words expressing a simulative meaning."
(Laurie Bauer, Rochelle Lieber, and Ingo Plag, The Oxford Reference Guide to English Morphology. Oxford University Press, 2013)
"And though 'Pinteresque' [derived from British playwright Harold Pinter, 1930-2008] is not a stable term, it usually is used to mean one of three things: most often 'Pinteresque' refers to a long pause, but it also turns up in descriptions of a menacing atmosphere or a banal verbal exchange."
(Susan Harris Smith, "'Pinteresque' in the Popular Press." The Pinter Review, 2004) - The Verb Cannibalize and Other -ize Derivatives
"Cannibalize may well have been coined in analogy to derivatives with a similative meaning 'act like a cannibal,' but, if so, it is unclear, why it does not mean 'eat someone of your own species.' In other words, cannibalize is semantically not transparent and has only a very remote relationship to productively formed -ize derivatives."
(Ingo Plag, Morphological Productivity: Structural Constraints in English Derivation. Walter de Gruyter, 1999)
"Helva has occasion to prove that she can use her singing to Dylanize [derived from American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan], to affect the inhabitants of a planet who are threatening her passenger."
(Robin Roberts, Anne McCaffrey: A Critical Companion. Greenwood, 1996) - Similes and Similatives
"The basic unit in all similes is a variable syntagma called the similative phrase. The structure of the similative phrase is ground + comparative element + Y (e.g., as dead as a door-nail)."
(Saara Nevanlinna, "The Structure of Middle English Similes of Equality." Early English in the Computer Age: Explorations Through the Helsinki Corpus, ed. by Matti Rissanen, Merja Kytö, and Minna Palander-Collin. Walter de Gruyter, 1993) - Similative Plurals
"Similative plurals are formed on a nominal which is considered to be a prototypical and most salient element of the class (e.g. tiger rather fox for predatory animals). In each case there is a dominance-based rule which chooses one of the elements of the group to be the focal referent of the representative plural form. In other words, all representative plurals tend to be based on some kind of hierarchy controlling the choice of the focus."
(Michael Daniel, "Understanding Inclusives." Clusivity: Typology and Case Studies of Inclusive-Exclusive Distinction, ed. by Elena Filimonova. John Benjamins, 2005)
Pronunciation: SIM-eh-let-iv