Relating to or expressing commitment, promise, or obligation; in linguistics, describing speech acts that commit the speaker to future action.
From Latin commissus 'entrusted' + -ive suffix (meaning 'having the quality of'). Used in philosophy of language to describe promises and commitments.
Linguists call 'I promise' and 'I swear' commissive speech acts—they're unique because saying them actually does something, rather than just describing reality like 'it is raining.'
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