demonstrative
[duh-mon-struh-tiv]
- characterized by or given to open exhibition or expression of one's emotions, attitudes, etc., especially of love or affection: She wished her fiancé were more demonstrative.
- serving to demonstrate; explanatory or illustrative.
- serving to prove the truth of anything; indubitably conclusive.
- Grammar. indicating or singling out the thing referred to. This is a demonstrative pronoun.
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- Grammar. a demonstrative word, as this or there.
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Origin of demonstrative
1350–1400; Middle English demonstratif (< Middle French) < Latin dēmonstrātīvus, equivalent to dēmonstrāt(us) (see demonstrate) + -īvus -ive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for demonstratively
Contemporary Examples
That is, to read Men in Space is to encounter a novelist already aware of his capabilities, at times flexing them demonstratively.
Must Read New Fiction: ‘Arcadia,’ ‘Men in Space,’ ‘The O’Briens,’ ‘Hot Pink’Chloë Schama, Jacob Silverman, Wendy Smith, Daniel Roberts
March 23, 2012
Historical Examples
He could not care for any one enthusiastically and demonstratively.
Jennie GerhardtTheodore Dreiser
Whence by him alone are they known a priori and demonstratively.
These are actively and demonstratively dissatisfied with the Queen.
Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical SketchesJustin McCarthy
That she was not demonstratively thankful was no fault of hers.
The Mayor of CasterbridgeThomas Hardy
Though thus reduced to silence, he cleared his throat in a demonstratively subservient manner and awaited his opportunity.
Dusty Diamonds Cut and PolishedR.M. Ballantyne
demonstrative
- tending to manifest or express one's feelings easily or unreservedly
- (postpositive foll by of) serving as proof; indicative
- involving or characterized by demonstrationa demonstrative lecture
- conclusive; indubitabledemonstrative arguments
- grammar denoting or belonging to a class of determiners used to point out the individual referent or referents intended, such as this, that, these, and thoseCompare interrogative, relative
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- grammar a demonstrative word or construction
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for demonstratively
demonstrative
adj.
late 14c., "characterized by logic, based on logic," from Old French démonstratif (14c.), from Latin demonstrativus "pointing out, demonstrating," from past participle stem of demonstrare (see demonstration). Grammatical sense, "pointing out the thing referred to," is mid-15c. Meaning "given to outward expressions of feelings" is from 1819. Demonstrative pronoun is late 16c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper