Meaning of FORMATIVE
| Pronunciation: | | 'formutiv
|
 WordNet Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
- [n] minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function
- [adj] forming or capable of forming or molding; "a formative influence"; "a formative experience"
- [adj] (biology) capable of forming new cells and tissues; "a formative zone in developing bone"
- [adj] beginning to develop; "inchoative stages"
- [adj] susceptible to alteration by development and experience; "formative years"
- [adj] relating to or characterized by formative effects or formation; "the formative arts"
|
| |
| | Sponsored Links: | |
|
| |
| | Synonyms: | | constructive, immature, inchoative, shaping, young |
| |
| | See Also: | | language unit, linguistic unit | |
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
| |
| | Definition: | |
\Form"a*tive\, a. [Cf. F. formatif.]
1. Giving form; having the power of giving form; plastic; as,
the formative arts.
The meanest plant can not be raised without seed, by
any formative residing in the soil. --Bentley.
2. (Gram.) Serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a
termination merely formative.
3. (Biol.) Capable of growth and development; germinal; as,
living or formative matter.
\Form"a*tive\, n. (Gram.)
(a) That which serves merely to give form, and is no part
of the radical, as the prefix or the termination of a
word.
(b) A word formed in accordance with some rule or usage,
as from a root.
|
| |
| Thesaurus Terms |
| |
| | Related Terms: | | abecedarian, aboriginal, accidence, adaptable, affix, affixation, allomorph, antenatal, autochthonous, beginning, behind the scenes, bendable, bending, bound morpheme, budding, causal, causative, compliant, component, conjugation, constituent, constitutive, constructive, creative, cutting, decisive, declension, demiurgic, derivation, determinative, difference of form, ductile, effectual, elastic, elemental, elementary, embryonic, enclitic, etiological, extensible, extensile, fabricable, facile, fetal, fictile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, formable, formal, formational, foundational, free form, fundamental, generative, gestatory, giving, IC analysis, immediate constituent analysis, impressible, impressionable, in embryo, in its infancy, in the bud, inaugural, inceptive, inchoate, inchoative, incipient, incunabular, infant, infantile, infix, infixation, inflection, initial, initiative, initiatory, institutive, integral, integrant, introductory, inventive, like putty, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, malleable, moldable, morph, morpheme, morphemic analysis, morphemics, morphology, morphophonemics, morphotic, nascent, natal, occasional, original, originative, paradigm, parturient, pivotal, plastic, pliable, pliant, postnatal, prefix, prefixation, pregnant, prenatal, primal, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, proclitic, procreative, productive, radical, receptive, responsive, root, rudimental, rudimentary, sensitive, sequacious, shapable, springy, stem, submissive, suffix, suffixation, supple, susceptible, theme, tractable, tractile, ur, whippy, willowy, word-formation, yielding |
| |
|
|
|