| 1. word which is employed to address someone; vocative case, case which denotes that someone is being addressed (Grammar). employed to address someone (Grammar). vocativevoca*tive , a. [l. vocativus, fr. vocare to call.] of or pertaining to calling; used in calling; specifically (gram.), used in address; appellative; -- said of that case or form of the noun, pronoun, or adjective, in which a person or thing is addressed; as, domine, o lord.vocative voca*tive, n. [l. vocativus (sc. casus): cf. f. vocatif.] (gram.) the vocative case.vocative (linguistics) relating to a case used in some languages; vocative verb endings the case (in some inflected languages) used when the referent of the noun is being addressed [syn: vocative case ] |