FORMATIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does formative mean? 

• FORMATIVE (noun)
  The noun FORMATIVE has 1 sense:

1. minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function

  Familiarity information: FORMATIVE used as a noun is very rare.

• FORMATIVE (adjective)
  The adjective FORMATIVE has 2 senses:

1. capable of forming new cells and tissues

2. forming or capable of forming or molding or fashioning

  Familiarity information: FORMATIVE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORMATIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("formative" is a kind of...):

language unit; linguistic unit (one of the natural units into which linguistic messages can be analyzed)

• FORMATIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of forming new cells and tissues

Context example:

a formative zone in developing bone

Similar:

constructive (constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Forming or capable of forming or molding or fashioning

Synonyms:

formative; plastic; shaping

Context example:

the plastic forces of nature

Similar:

constructive (constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development)

Derivation:

form (establish or impress firmly in the mind)

 Context examples 

But scientists do not know where in the formative disk these objects originated.

(Comet Provides New Clues to Origins of Earth's Oceans, NASA)

It has formative, nutritive, sensory, and protective functions.

(Dental Pulp, NCI Thesaurus)

This newly discovered huge structure around the system may have implications for what this yet-unseen planetary system looks like around the 8-million-year-old star, which is in its formative years of planet construction.

(Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A, NASA)

He said: 'This study raises questions as to whether at least some aspects of screen-based media use in early childhood may provide sub-optimal stimulation during this rapid, formative state of brain development.

(Too Much Screen Time Changes Structure of Toddlers' Brains, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

De Kleer used the fortuitous detection of this outburst simultaneously at Gemini and the IRTF to show that the eruption temperature is likely much higher than typical eruption temperatures on Earth today, indicative of a composition of the magma that on Earth only occurred in our planet's formative years, she said.

(A Hellacious Two Weeks on Jupiter's Moon Io, NASA)

The first reports of formative gullies on Mars in 2000 generated excitement and headlines because they suggested the presence of liquid water on the Red Planet, the eroding action of which forms gullies here on Earth.

(NASA spacecraft observes further evidence of dry ice gullies on Mars, NASA)