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Showing results for causative. Search instead for ipsative.
Synonyms

causative

American  
[kaw-zuh-tiv] / ˈkɔ zə tɪv /

adjective

  1. acting as a cause; producing (often followed byof ).

    a causative agency; an event causative of war.

  2. Grammar. noting causation. The causative form of to fall is to fell. Gothic -jan is a causative suffix in fulljan “to cause to be full; to fill.”

noun

  1. Grammar. a word, especially a verb, noting causation, as made in He made me eat the apple.

causative British  
/ ˈkɔːzətɪv /

adjective

  1. grammar relating to a form or class of verbs, such as persuade, that express causation

  2. producing an effect

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the causative form or class of verbs

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • causatively adverb
  • causativeness noun
  • causativity noun
  • intercausative adjective
  • noncausative adjective
  • noncausatively adverb
  • noncausativeness noun
  • uncausative adjective
  • uncausatively adverb
  • uncausativeness noun

Etymology

Origin of causative

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin causātīvus, equivalent to causāt ( us ) caused ( causation ) + -īvus -ive

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 findings echo those of a similar review published last November, which also failed to find convincing evidence of a causative link between Tylenol and autism.

From Salon • Jan. 21, 2026

The study appears in Molecular Psychiatry under the title "Defective Hoxb8 microglia are causative for both chronic anxiety and pathological overgrooming in mice."

From Science Daily • Nov. 13, 2025

“Regardless of whether there is a causative relationship between music engagement and decreased dementia risk, listening to more music can’t be a bad thing.”

From MarketWatch • Nov. 5, 2025

In April 2024, Mr Lowe was diagnosed by a consultant neurologist at the Southern Health Trust with a “painful trigeminal neuropathy” which had “the Covid vaccine as its main causative factor”.

From BBC • Oct. 13, 2024

The causative relation between pathogenic organisms and many diseases had been established through the brilliant work of Pasteur and Koch.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

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.