a. [ Cf. F. agglutinatif. ] 1. Pertaining to agglutination; tending to unite, or having power to cause adhesion; adhesive. Syn. -- polysynthetic, holophrastic. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Philol.) Formed or characterized by agglutination, as a language or a compound. [ 1913 Webster ] In agglutinative languages the union of words may be compared to mechanical compounds, in inflective languages to chemical compounds. R. Morris. [ 1913 Webster ] Cf. man-kind, heir-loom, war-like, which are agglutinative compounds. The Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish, the Tamul, etc., are agglutinative languages. R. Morris. [ 1913 Webster ] Agglutinative languages preserve the consciousness of their roots. Max Müller. [ 1913 Webster ] |