MEANING
Relating to the act performed in saying something, such as promising, warning, ordering, or advising.
Use it for
What a speaker does by saying words, such as warn or promise.Use when analyzing a speaker’s communicative act, not merely the sentence’s literal meaning.
On the page
Her warning had an illocutionary force the crew understood at once.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- illocutionary
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