GENITIVE CASE

views updated

GENITIVE CASE. A term in GRAMMAR marking possession and analogous relationships in the case system of LATIN and other inflected languages. In the phrase dies irae days of wrath, irae is the genitive of ira wrath, anger. The term has been carried over into English grammar, but is not so common as possessive. See DOUBLE GENITIVE, GROUP POSSESSIVE, SAXON GENITIVE.