adj. 1. Of, relating to, or being the grammatical case that is the direct object of a verb or the object of certain prepositions. 2. Accusatory. n. 1. The accusative case. 2. A word or form in the accusative case. [Middle English acusatif, from Old French, from Latin (cāsus) accūsātīvus, (case) of accusation (mistranslation of Greek aitiātikē (ptōsis), causal (case), (case) indicating the thing caused by the verb, from aitiā, cause, also accusation, charge), from accūsātus, past participle of accūsāre, to accuse; see ACCUSE.] ac·cusa·tive·ly adv. |
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