-ic - Dictionary Of English

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-ic [links] ⓘ One or more forum threads is an exact match of your searched term in Spanish | in French | in Italian | English synonyms | English Usage | Conjugator | in context | images WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025-ic, suffix.
  1. -ic is attached to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning "of or relating to:''metal + -ic → metallic;poet + -ic → poetic.This suffix is also attached to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning "having some characteristics of; in the style of:'' ballet + -ic → balletic; sophomore + -ic → sophomoric; Byron + -ic → Byronic (= in the style of Byron).
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025-ic,
    1. a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring originally in Greek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses "having some characteristics of '' (opposed to the simple attributive use of the base noun) (balletic; sophomoric); "in the style of '' (Byronic; Miltonic); "pertaining to a family of peoples or languages'' (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic).
    2. [Chem.]a suffix, specialized in opposition to -ous, used to show the higher of two valences:ferric chloride.
    3. a noun suffix occurring chiefly in loanwords from Greek, where such words were originally adjectival (critic; magic; music).
    • Latin -icus
    • French
    • Latin -icus; in many words representing the cognate Greek -ikos (directly or through Latin); in some words replacing -ique
    • Middle English -ic, -ik
IC,
    1. Grammarpl. ICs. See immediate constituent.
    2. Electronicsintegrated circuit.
    3. intensive care.
I.C.,
  1. ReligionJesus Christ.
  • Latin I(ēsus) C(hrīstus)
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: -ic suffix forming adjectives
  1. of, relating to, or resembling: allergic, Germanic, periodicSee also -ical
  2. (in chemistry) indicating that an element is chemically combined in the higher of two possible valence states: ferric, stannicCompare -ous
Etymology: from Latin -icus or Greek -ikos; -ic also occurs in nouns that represent a substantive use of adjectives (magic) and in nouns borrowed directly from Latin or Greek (critic, music) '-ic' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations): acetyl - acrylic - actinic - -age - amphoteric - anorthic - arabinose - ascorbic acid - aspartame - carbolic acid - D. - Dem. - ethanedioic acid - folacin - formaldehyde - formyl - gallic - -genic - hypergolic - hypnopompic - I - -ical - Ice. - -ician - -ics - isometric - -istic - magnetar - maleate - monoclinic - nematic - oleic acid - oligotrophic - -ous - Palaeozoic - palmitic acid - phatic - photic - photobathic - phthalic acid - polysomic - poromeric - PROLOG - propanedioic acid - propanoic acid - pyrogallol - racemic - ribonuclease - salicylic acid - Aaronic In Lists: English suffixes, more...

🗣️Forum discussions with the word(s) "-ic" in the title:

-ic vs -ical Adding -ic suffix to words Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical: historic/al, hysteric/al, electric/al, economic/al ... ... economic / economical (-ic & -ical adjective endings) IC One ic or cal Ic; Ical pedant(ic)? Pronunciation: machinic [machine + ic] something ending in ic Suffix -ic what is an IC Paper in the finance / investment / aviation industry? Why no words ending 'ic' form can't make comparative degree [can] words ending in "ic": exceptional pronunciations Visit the English Only Forum.Help WordReference: Ask in the forums yourself. Look up "-ic" at Merriam-Webster Look up "-ic" at dictionary.com
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