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whimperative

noun

Etymology

Blend of whimper + imperative. Coined by Jerrold Sadock in a 1970 essay.

  1. borrowed from imperātīvus
  2. compounded as whimperative — “whimper + imperative”

Definitions

  1. An order or imperative phrased obliquely as a question, such as "would you mind closing…

    An order or imperative phrased obliquely as a question, such as "would you mind closing the window?"

    • Since whimperatives look like questions, the lowest hypersentence must be interrogative.
    • We see this in the way that whimperatives use pro forma openings like Can you rather than other wordings with the same meaning, such as Are you capable of passing the salt?

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for whimperative. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA