interpretative
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of interpretative
1560–70; < Latin interpretāt ( us ) past participle of interpretārī to interpret + -ive
Explanation
Something interpretative is helping you understand or make meaning. When you visit a national monument, you might not understand the symbolism until you read the interpretative signs that explain and interpret the monument for visitors. To interpret means "to translate or to explain." If you view an interpretative dance, the performers are interpreting the music with their physical movements. If you have a job working as an interpreter at the UN, you might have the interpretative task of assisting diplomats by translating what is said in one language into a language that another person can understand.
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.
One of Ms. Beck’s most ambitious projects was a 1988 exhibition called “Creative Copies: Interpretative Drawings From Michelangelo to Picasso,” organized with the art historian Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, also a professor at N.Y.U., and Ph.D. students.
From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2014
Many monitoring programs are ongoing in and along the Chesapeake to collect data, said Doug Wilson, project manager for the Chesapeake Bay Interpretative Buoy System.
From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2010
Interpretative Application of the Symbols.—A little discussion of the foregoing from a "A Scholar's Funeral" in the "Bonnie Brier Bush" may serve to make some of these things clearer.
From The Writing of the Short Story by Smith, Lewis Worthington
Interpretative attention is that which never existed at all, but which would have existed if the agent had adverted.
From The Divine Office by Quigley, Edward J.
Interpretative stories of Texas range life, which O. Henry for a time lived.
From Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest, with a Few Observations by Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
