Definition of deponent in English:
deponent
adjective dɪˈpəʊnəntdəˈpoʊnənt
Grammar (of a verb, especially in Latin or Greek) passive or middle in form but active in meaning.
Example sentencesExamples
- Typical is Wenham: ‘A deponent verb is one which is Middle or Passive in form, but Active in meaning.’
- It is a misnomer to classify this as a deponent verb; the middle force of the verb is not absent.
- He argues that in light of recent discussion we can do a better job of classifying deponent forms and understanding them than we have in the past.
noun dɪˈpəʊnəntdəˈpoʊnənt
1Grammar
A deponent verb.
Example sentencesExamples
- When one examines the ‘passive deponent’ verbs in question, they are a subset of the eighty-five-plus verbs that we have argued are true middles, not deponents.
- Mounce gives the figure of approximately seventy-five percent of the middle forms in the NT should be classified as deponent.
- Just because an active form doesn't exist in the relatively small corpus of the New Testament, this is no reason to deem a verb deponent.
2Law
A person who makes a deposition or affidavit under oath.
Example sentencesExamples
- The adoption of such a test would sometimes require the trial of an issue or at least cross-examination of deponents to affidavits.
- I understand from the affidavits that the various deponents have inconvenienced themselves by coming to the Court today.
- If that is what the deponent of this affidavit wants to say, I want to cross-examine him.
- The deponents to these affidavits state that they have suffered injuries which were not fully compensated for under the prior settlements.
- You are the deponent of the affidavit which you have provided to the Court Registry in support of the application?
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin deponent- 'laying aside, putting down' (in medieval Latin 'testifying'), from the verb deponere, from de- 'down' + ponere 'place'. The use in grammar arose from the notion that the verb had ‘laid aside’ the passive sense (although in fact these verbs were originally reflexive).
Rhymes
component, exponent, opponent, proponent
Definition of deponent in US English:
deponent
adjectivedəˈpōnəntdəˈpoʊnənt
Grammar (of a verb, especially in Latin or Greek) passive or middle in form but active in meaning.
Example sentencesExamples
- He argues that in light of recent discussion we can do a better job of classifying deponent forms and understanding them than we have in the past.
- Typical is Wenham: ‘A deponent verb is one which is Middle or Passive in form, but Active in meaning.’
- It is a misnomer to classify this as a deponent verb; the middle force of the verb is not absent.
noundəˈpōnəntdəˈpoʊnənt
1Grammar
A deponent verb.
Example sentencesExamples
- Mounce gives the figure of approximately seventy-five percent of the middle forms in the NT should be classified as deponent.
- When one examines the ‘passive deponent’ verbs in question, they are a subset of the eighty-five-plus verbs that we have argued are true middles, not deponents.
- Just because an active form doesn't exist in the relatively small corpus of the New Testament, this is no reason to deem a verb deponent.
2Law
A person who makes a deposition or affidavit under oath.
Example sentencesExamples
- The deponents to these affidavits state that they have suffered injuries which were not fully compensated for under the prior settlements.
- If that is what the deponent of this affidavit wants to say, I want to cross-examine him.
- I understand from the affidavits that the various deponents have inconvenienced themselves by coming to the Court today.
- You are the deponent of the affidavit which you have provided to the Court Registry in support of the application?
- The adoption of such a test would sometimes require the trial of an issue or at least cross-examination of deponents to affidavits.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin deponent- ‘laying aside, putting down’ (in medieval Latin ‘testifying’), from the verb deponere, from de- ‘down’ + ponere ‘place’. The use in grammar arose from the notion that the verb had ‘laid aside’ the passive sense (although in fact these verbs were originally reflexive).