Meaning

(chiefly no longer productive) Of or pertaining to..

Definitions by Sense

1. (chiefly no longer productive) Of or pertaining to.
2. Used to form demonyms.
3. (chemistry) Used to form names of chemical substances, especially basic (alkaline) substances, alkaloidal substances, or halogen elements.
4. (anthropology) used to form vernacular nouns and adjectives relating to hominoid genera
5. Commercial materials.
6. (no longer productive) Used to form feminine nouns.
7. (no longer productive) Used to form female given names or names of titles.
8. Found in the plural forms of a small number of English words. Not productive.

Example Sentences

asinine, marine, bovine, cervine

Levantine, Byzantine, Argentine, Florentine

amine, aniline, caffeine, iodine

australopithecine, dryopithecine, pithecanthropine

glass + -ine → glassine

hero + -ine → heroine

speaker + -ine → speakerine

Paul + -ine → Pauline

Synonyms for -ine

Antonyms for -ine

When Should You Use -ine?

Use -ine when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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