I. ˈgramə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English gramere, gramer, grammer, from Middle French gramaire, modification of Latin grammatica, from Greek grammatikē, from feminine of grammatikos skilled in grammar, from grammat-, gramma letter, piece of writing + -ikos -ic — more at gram
1.
a. : a branch of linguistic study that deals with the classes of words, their inflections or other means of indicating relation to each other, and their functions and relations in the sentence as employed according to established usage and that is sometimes extended to include related matter such as phonology, prosody, language history, orthography, orthoepy, etymology, or semantics — see accidence , morphology , syntax
b. : linguistics
c. : a study of what is to be preferred and what avoided in the inflections and syntax of a language
2. : that which is studied in grammar : those phenomena of language with which grammar deals : the characteristic system or the preferred system of inflections and syntax of a language
3.
a. : a book in which grammar is methodically treated
b. : an elementary textbook for foreign language study
c. : a manner of speaking or writing that conforms to grammatical rules : speech or writing that is preferred to what should be avoided
appalled at the bad grammar of college students
4.
a. : the basic elements or principles of a science, art, discipline, practice
the grammar of politics in Latin America is unfamiliar to the Anglo-Saxon mind — R.A.Humphreys
the grammar of heraldry
b. : a treatise or book dealing with such elements or principles
c. : a set of such elements or principles
music has universal appeal because it has a universal grammar
created a grammar of cinematography
II. noun
: a system of rules that defines the grammatical structure of a language