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“-aceous”
-aceous (suffix)
A suffix that forms adjectives and is used with technical combinations, especially in biological terms: Pertaining or belonging to, of the nature of, or characterized by; to be full of, to possess abundantly are meanings that the suffix -aceous conveys.
The suffix is present in the term acanthaceous, presented in the previous entry.
This entry is located in the following unit:
-aceous, -acea, -aceae, -aceaen, -aceus
(page 1)
-aceous, -acious, -atious
This confusing ending is pronounced the same in all three spellings.
-aceous (AY shuhs) A suffix that becomes an (adjective)
Characterized by, relating to a group; such as, a plant family. Of the common words, only curvaceous ends in -aceous; however, a great many technical terms from botany, zoology, chemistry, medicine, etc. have this spelling: herbaceous, sebaceous, setaceous, etc.:
The biology class went on a hike to collect the leaves from several herbaceous plants in the park.
-acious (AY shuhs) A suffix that becomes an (adjective)
Full of, characterized by, or tending toward. The most frequent form in use is -acious: audacious, gracious, pugnacious, etc.:
Billy's teachers observed that he was a pugnacious boy when he was with other children on the playground.
-atious (AY shuhs) A suffix that becomes an (adjective)
Inclined to "-ation" or, some say that the suffix is actually "-ous" and means "full of". The following end in -atious: disputatious, flirtatious, ostentatious, vexatious. Note that for each of these there is a corresponding noun in "-ation": disputation, flirtation, ostentation, and vexation.:
Carol's friend, Isabel, is very flirtatious or playful with boys.
Keep in mind that "-acious" is more than likely to be the correct ending whenever there is any serious doubt as to which suffix to use.
If Ivan is very cautious, he will be gracious to the botanist who is studying the herbaceous growth patterns on the local hillside.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group A; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc.
(page 2)
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“-aceous”
(Latin: a suffix; having the quality of, of the nature of, characterized by, belonging to, resembling)