'Formative' definitions:
Definition of 'formative'
From: WordNet
adjective
Capable of forming new cells and tissues; "a formative zone in developing bone"
adjective
Forming or capable of forming or molding or fashioning; "a formative influence"; "a formative experience" [syn: formative, shaping, plastic]
noun
Minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function
Definition of 'Formative'
From: GCIDE
- Formative \Form"a*tive\, a. [Cf. F. formatif.]
- 1. Giving form; having the power of giving form; plastic; as, the formative arts. [1913 Webster]
- The meanest plant can not be raised without seed, by any formative residing in the soil. --Bentley. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Gram.) Serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a termination merely formative. [1913 Webster]
- 3. (Biol.) Capable of growth and development; germinal; as, living or formative matter. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Formative'
From: GCIDE
- Formative \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. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'formative'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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
Words containing 'Formative'
- Format,
- Formate,
- Formation,
- formatting,
- Carboniferous formation,
- Chalk formation,
- Cretaceous formation,
- Spore formation,
- Tertiary formation,
- calque formation,
- cell formation,
- data format,
- data formatting,
- formative cell,
- formatted capacity,
- geological formation,
- heat of formation,
- military formation,
- pair formation,
- reaction formation,
- reticular formation,
- word formation,
- Re-formation,
- back-formation,
- high-level formatting,
- low-level formatting