constructive
Americanadjective
-
helping to improve; promoting further development or advancement (destructive ).
constructive criticism.
- Synonyms:
- useful, handy, helpful, productive
-
of, relating to, or of the nature of construction; structural.
-
deduced by inference or interpretation; inferential.
constructive permission.
-
Law. denoting an act or condition not directly expressed but inferred from other acts or conditions.
adjective
-
serving to build or improve; positive
constructive criticism
-
law deduced by inference or construction; not expressed but inferred
-
law having a deemed legal effect
constructive notice
-
another word for structural
Other Word Forms
- constructively adverb
- constructiveness noun
- nonconstructive adjective
- nonconstructively adverb
- nonconstructiveness noun
- quasi-constructive adjective
- quasi-constructively adverb
- unconstructive adjective
- unconstructively adverb
Etymology
Origin of constructive
1670–80; < Medieval Latin constrūctīvus, equivalent to Latin constrūct(us) ( construct ) + 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.
Parents who are anxious about money may worry they’ll pass their emotional baggage on to the next generation, but it’s possible to give kids constructive financial lessons without weighing them down.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026
“We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
By Monday morning, with global markets swooning, he said the Iranians were engaging in "constructive" talks with the US.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
Before Monday's strike, China had dispatched a special envoy to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan, pledging to play a "constructive role in de-escalating tensions".
From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026
Somehow this makes her praise sound like their mother's old "constructive" criticism.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
