The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20210508023056/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/-atory
Dictionary.com

-atory

Save This Word!

a combination of -ate1 and -ory1 or -ory2, used infrequently as an independent suffix with the same senses as -ory1 and -ory2: affirmatory; observatory.

QUIZZES

QUIZ YOURSELF ON THE MANY TYPES OF NOUNS

They're everywhere you turn, but can you identify the 10 types of nouns easily? This quiz will test your mettle against singular, plural, concrete, abstract, common, proper, collective, compound, countable, and uncountable nouns!
Question 1 of 7
Shoelaces, rainbow, toothpaste, and haircuts are all what type of noun?
collective
compound
countable
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar helpImprove Your Writing

Meet Grammar Coach

Improve Your Writing
Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Origin of -atory

<Latin -Ä?tōrius,-a,-um, originally the termination of adjectives formed with -tōrius (see -tory1, -tory2) and verbs whose stems ended in -Ä?-; reanalyzed in English in the same way as -ator

Words nearby -atory

atopognosia, atopy, -ator, atorvastatin, atorvastatin calcium, -atory, atoxic, ATP, at pains, be at, ATPase, at peace
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for -atory

British Dictionary definitions for -atory

-atory

suffix forming adjectives

of, relating to, characterized by, or serving tocirculatory; exploratory; migratory; explanatory

Word Origin for -atory

from Latin -Ä?tōrius; see -ate 1, -ory ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
FEEDBACK