conjugate

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a mixture of two partially miscible liquids A and B produces two conjugate solutions: one of A in B and another of B in A
  2. verb unite chemically so that the product is easily broken down into the original compounds
  3. verb add inflections showing person, number, gender, tense, aspect, etc.

Etymology

The adjective (as “combined, united”) and noun are first attested in 1471, in Middle English, the verb in 1530; partly from Middle English conjugat(e) (“combined, united”), partly directly borrowed from New Latin coniugātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin coniugō (“to yoke together, combine; (New Latin) to conjugate, decline, inflect”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from con- (“with”) + iugō (“to join”). In Classical Latin, the word for conjugate (grammar) was dēclīnō, coniugō is a later back-formation from post-classical coniugātiō (“conjugation, declension”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

conjugate solution

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