2. Noun. (grammar) The use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking, e.g. using “to be able” as the infinitive of “can”, or “better” as the comparative of “good”. ¹
3. Noun. (grammar) More loosely, use of unrelated (or distantly related) words for semantically related words which may not share the same lexical category, such as father/paternal or cow/bovine. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Suppletion
1. [n -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Suppletion
Literary usage of Suppletion
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Prepared by Great Britain Public Record Office, Great Britain Court of Chancery, H. C. Maxwell Lyte, England Sovereign (1272-1307 : Edward I) (1901)
"12s. lid. in part suppletion of the value of the county of Richmond, for the
suppletion of the whole of which she has letters patent. ..."
2. The Denotation of Generic Terms in Ancient Indian Philosophy: Grammar, Nyāya by Peter M. Scharf (1996)
"... suppletion of the sentence, this could be translated: (One ... suppletion:
One object (is present in many places) as 'Indra' is. ..."
3. Records of the Cape Colony from February 1793 [to: Copied for the Cape by Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), Great Britain Public Record Office (1905)
"... to request the suppletion of what after execution may be found deficient, from
the Orphan Chamber, who shall represent the case to Government, ..."
4. From Latin to Spanish by Paul M. Lloyd (1987)
"... forms of a single lexeme (as in cases of suppletion) have no phonetic connection
with each other, eg Eng. goes (present tense) vs. went (past tense). ..."
5. An Introduction to the Study of Language by Leonard Bloomfield (1914)
"... and suppletion One and the same semantic relation between two words, — such
as in English the difference of present and past tense, ..."
6. Ephod and Ark: A Study in the Records and Religion of the Ancient Hebrews by William Rosenzweig Arnold (1917)
"... without the slightest transposition or suppletion, a complete, consecutive,
organically articulated, and homogeneous narrative, the matter of (2) yields ..."
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