function word

function word

n.

A word, such as a preposition, a conjunction, or an article, that has little semantic content of its own and chiefly indicates a grammatical relationship. Also called form word, functor.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

function word - a word that is uninflected and serves a grammatical function but has little identifiable meaning closed-class word word - a unit of language that native speakers can identify; "words are the blocks from which sentences are made"; "he hardly said ten words all morning" determinative, determiner - one of a limited class of noun modifiers that determine the referents of noun phrases preposition - a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word pronoun - a function word that is used in place of a noun or noun phrase conjunctive, connective, continuative, conjunction - an uninflected function word that serves to conjoin words or phrases or clauses or sentences particle - a function word that can be used in English to form phrasal verbs grammatical meaning - the meaning of a word that depends on its role in a sentence; varies with inflectional form