affective
Americanadjective
-
of, caused by, or expressing emotion or feeling; emotional.
-
causing emotion or feeling.
adjective
-
psychol relating to affects
-
concerned with or arousing the emotions or affection
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of affective
1540–50; from Medieval Latin affectīvus, equivalent to Latin affect(us) (action noun; see affect 1) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Affective is a word that crops up a lot in psychology—it means having to do with emotions or moods. Affective disorders are characterized by mood swings. It can be tricky to remember the difference between effective and affective (but easier than distinguishing between effect and affect). Effective makes a judgment about how something works—an effective strategy is one that works well. Affective is about how someone acts, or feels.
Vocabulary lists containing affective
"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 7
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This Week In Culture: October 5–11, 2019
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Dicey's Song
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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.
The first theory traces back to the same underlying factor that causes the stock market to perform poorly in September: a big uptick in seasonal affective disorder.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
“In order to fully hijack your ability to reason, I need to parasitize both your cognitive or thinking system, as well as your emotional affective system.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
"But for people who have a profound effect at this time of year, when they get significantly depressed, then those are the kinds of people that we might say are experiencing seasonal affective."
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
On top of this endorsement of irony, Berlant also theorized a post-irony characterized by meaningful sincerity, allowing us to patch or bridge the affective conflicts of public life that can’t be resolved through ironic detachment.
From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2024
But people live also in the realm of the affective and aesthetic—that's why they bury bodies and sometimes dig them up and pour love potions on them.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
