adjective
noun
-
a less common word for digestant
-
short for digestive biscuit
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of digestive
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French digestif < Latin dīgestīvus, equivalent to dīgest ( us ) ( see digest) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Anything that's digestive has something to do with the body's process of breaking down food. A stomach ache can be a sign of digestive problems — or just nervousness about the first day of school. Your digestive system is made up of all the body parts that contribute to taking large pieces of food and breaking them into water-soluble bits that are eventually absorbed into your bloodstream. Sometimes this adjective describes food that's meant to help in this process, like digestive mints and digestive biscuits. As a noun it simply means "food or medicine that aids digestion." If you're overfull after Thanksgiving dinner, your grandmother might suggest you take a digestive.
Vocabulary lists containing digestive
Life Science: Human Systems
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Life Science II
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Vocabulary from Readings, Unit 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Beyond the reduction in arthritis pain, the researchers are particularly interested in what the findings reveal about interactions between the digestive system, muscles, and nervous system.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
Researchers are increasingly discovering that the gut microbiome, the vast community of microorganisms living in the digestive tract, influences much more than digestion.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
She said the nurdles could affect wildlife in various ways, including getting stuck in animal digestive tracts and adsorbing chemicals which then may be toxic to wildlife when ingested.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Reports of nausea and other digestive complaints were proportionally less common.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
I am listening, I thought, to the cacophony of my digestive tract.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
The boss of the biscuits factory where McVitie's chocolate digestives have been made for the last 100 years reckons people have always eaten them incorrectly.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2025
The British brand McVitie’s even has a dunking expert, Stuart Farrimond, and he claims that dunking digestives in a milky drink releases more flavor than you’d get from a dry one.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022
Historically, digestives were made with wholemeal, a combination of fine bran and white flour.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022
Related: Chocolate digestives: the best and worst – taste test Helps weight loss Can this really be true?
From The Guardian ● Mar. 8, 2016
Hence one does not break one's fast by taking them or any other medicines, unless one were to take digestives, with a fraudulent intention, in great quantity and by way of food.
From Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Saint Thomas Aquinas
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
