-ory
-ory
suff.
1. Of, relating to, or characterized by: advisory.
2. A place or thing used for or connected with: crematory.
[Middle English -orie, from Old North French and Anglo-Norman, from Latin -ōrius, adj. suff., and -ōrium, n. suff.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
-ory
suffix forming nouns
1. indicating a place for: observatory.
2. something having a specified use: directory.
[via Old French -orie, from Latin -ōrium, -ōria]
-ory
suffix forming adjectives
of or relating to; characterized by; having the effect of: contributory; promissory.
[via Old French -orie, from Latin -ōrius]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
-ory1
, an adjective-forming suffix, joined to bases of Latin origin in imitation of borrowed Latin words containing the suffix -tory1 (and its alternant -sory): excretory; sensory; statutory.
[Middle English -orie < Anglo-French; Old French -oire < Latin -ōrius, extracted from -tōrius -tory1; see -or2]
-ory2
, a suffix forming nouns denoting places or receptacles, joined to bases of Latin origin in imitation of borrowed Latin words containing the suffix -tory2 (and its alternant -sory): crematory.
[Middle English -orie < Anglo-French; Old French -oire < Latin -ōrium, extracted from -tōrium -tory2; see -ory1, -or2]
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