About The Word Formative

Bay Area Crosswords

Learn about the word Formative to help solve your crossword puzzle. Discover Formative definitions and meaning, origins, synonyms, related terms and more at the free Crossword Dictionary.

Formative

Formative Meaning & Definition
Formative Definition And Meaning

What's The Definition Of Formative?

[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"

Synonyms | Synonyms for Formative: constructive | immature | inchoative | shaping | young

Related Terms | Find terms related to Formative: 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

See Also | language unit | linguistic unit

Formative In Webster's Dictionary

\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.

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