antiagglutinative
|an-ti-ag-glu-ti-na-tive|
🇺🇸
/ˌæn.ti.əˌɡluː.tɪˈneɪ.tɪv/
🇬🇧
/ˌæn.tɪ.əˌɡlʊ.tɪˈneɪ.tɪv/
against clumping/against agglutination
Etymology
'antiagglutinative' originates from a combination of the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti', meaning 'against') and 'agglutinative' (from Latin 'agglutinare'/'agglutinatus', ultimately from Latin 'gluten' meaning 'glue').
'agglutinative' entered English via Medieval/Modern Latin and French (e.g. Latin 'agglutinare' > French 'agglutinatif' > English 'agglutinative'), and the prefix 'anti-' was attached in modern English usage to form 'antiagglutinative' meaning 'against agglutination'.
Initially the roots referred literally to 'gluing together' or 'preventing gluing' (physical/medical sense); over time the combined form has been used both in medical contexts (preventing clumping) and metaphorically in linguistics (opposed to agglutinative morphological patterns).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
preventing or opposing agglutination (the clumping together of particles, especially in a medical/serological context).
The laboratory used an antiagglutinative agent to stop the cells from clumping during the test.
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Adjective 2
not agglutinative; opposing or lacking agglutinative morphological structure (in linguistics: not forming words primarily by concatenating affixes).
The language is described as antiagglutinative because it favors isolating morphology over affixation.
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Last updated: 2025/08/27 03:45