Phrase guide

possessive case

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

case used to express direct possession, ownership, origin, etc. Though similar in many ways to the genitive case, it is not always the same. Languages that have the possessive case include English and Quenya.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the case expressing ownership

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: genitive, genitive case, possessive

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: oblique, oblique case

Narrower terms: attributive genitive, attributive genitive case

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: притежателен падеж (pritežatelen padež) — case used to express direct possession
  • Chinese Mandarin: 所有格 (suǒyǒugé) — case used to express direct possession
  • Czech: genitiv — case used to express direct possession
  • Danish: ejefald — case used to express direct possession
  • Dutch: genitief — case used to express direct possession
  • Finnish: genetiivi — case used to express direct possession
  • French: possessif — case used to express direct possession
  • German: Genitiv — case used to express direct possession
  • Greek: κτητική (ktitikí) — case used to express direct possession
  • Hungarian: birtokos eset — case used to express direct possession
  • Irish: sealbhach — case used to express direct possession
  • Irish: tuiseal sealbhach — case used to express direct possession
  • Japanese: 所有格 (shoyūkaku) — case used to express direct possession
  • Latin: casus possessivus — case used to express direct possession
  • Portuguese: caso possessivo — case used to express direct possession
  • Russian: притяжа́тельный паде́ж (pritjažátelʹnyj padéž) — case used to express direct possession
  • Slovak: genitív — case used to express direct possession
  • Spanish: caso posesivo — case used to express direct possession
  • Ukrainian: присві́йний відмі́нок (prysvíjnyj vidmínok) — case used to express direct possession
  • Vietnamese: sở hữu cách — case used to express direct possession