| Definitions | optative
noun
- (grammar) the optative mood.
- a verb or expression in the optative mood.
adjective (no comparative or superlative)
- expressing a wish or a choice.
- (grammar) a mood of verb, verbs found in some languages (e.g. Old Prussian, Latin), used to express a wish. English does not have an optative mood, but it does have some words with peculiar properties e.g., hope, wish, want, desire, which express the optative.
Etymology: From Middle English optatif, from Old French, from Late Latin optativus, optÄtÄvus, from Latin optatus, optÄtus, past participle of optare, optÄre, to wish.
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