appellative

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: ap=pel=la=tive

CIDE DICTIONARY

appellative, a. [L. appellativus, fr. appellare: cf. F. appelatif. See Appeal.].

•  Pertaining to a common name; serving as a distinctive denomination; denominative; naming.  Cudworth.  [1913 Webster]
•  Common, as opposed to proper; denominative of a class.  [1913 Webster]

appellative, n. [L. appelativum, sc. nomen.].

•  A common name, in distinction from a proper name. A common name, or appellative, stands for a whole class, genus, or species of beings, or for universal ideas. Thus, tree is the name of all plants of a particular class; plant and vegetable are names of things that grow out of the earth. A proper name, on the other hand, stands for a single thing; as, Rome, Washington, Lake Erie.  [1913 Webster]
•  An appellation or title; a descriptive name.  [1913 Webster]

  "God chosen it for one of his appellatives to be the Defender of them."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

appellative, adj.
1 naming.
2 Gram. (of a noun) that designates a class; common.

Etymology

LL appellativus (as APPEAL, -ATIVE)