Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔗 A combining function 🕴️ A schemer
combinator

combinator

1 9.2
A function that combines values in programming or math
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒmbɪneɪtər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : combinador
  • The mathematician explained how to use a combinator to combine different elements into a single expression.
  • Y Combinator
  • Combinator startup
  • incubator Y Combinator

Examples

  • In programming, a combinator can take multiple functions as input and produce a single function as output.

  • A better idea is to have separate features for each with decent combinators for mixing them.

    Blog text (8)

  • So what's the combinator for some of a bunch of choices, any one of which may be true?

  • When designing the new software, the team implemented a combinator that effectively merges various data streams.

Surface Forms

combinator singular
combinators plural

Morphology

combinator = combine (transparent) = combine + ator

The word is a straightforward agentive/functional formation from 'combine' plus the agentive suffix '-ator', yielding an entity or function that combines elements.

Etymology

The word combinator comes from the verb combine, from Latin combinare, made of com- 'together' and the part -bine like in 'bind' meaning 'join'. So a combinator in math or programming is a function or small tool that 'joins' parts or values together in a set way.