adjective
noun
-
a less common word for digestant
-
short for digestive biscuit
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of digestive
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French digestif < Latin dīgestīvus, equivalent to dīgest ( us ) ( see digest) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Anything that's digestive has something to do with the body's process of breaking down food. A stomach ache can be a sign of digestive problems — or just nervousness about the first day of school. Your digestive system is made up of all the body parts that contribute to taking large pieces of food and breaking them into water-soluble bits that are eventually absorbed into your bloodstream. Sometimes this adjective describes food that's meant to help in this process, like digestive mints and digestive biscuits. As a noun it simply means "food or medicine that aids digestion." If you're overfull after Thanksgiving dinner, your grandmother might suggest you take a digestive.
Vocabulary lists containing digestive
Life Science: Human Systems
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Life Science II
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Vocabulary from Readings, Unit 2
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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.
See Examples For:
Instead, the scientists want to understand how different foods influence the gut microbiome, the enormous community of trillions of bacteria that inhabit the digestive system.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
Although this does not establish that GLP-1 caused the improvement, it suggests that changes originating in the digestive system may be connected to muscle function as well as pain.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
She said the nurdles could affect wildlife in various ways, including getting stuck in animal digestive tracts and adsorbing chemicals which then may be toxic to wildlife when ingested.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Reports of nausea and other digestive complaints were proportionally less common.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
Inside, the caterpillar’s digestive and respiratory systems change drastically.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
The boss of the biscuits factory where McVitie's chocolate digestives have been made for the last 100 years reckons people have always eaten them incorrectly.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2025
Historically, digestives were made with wholemeal, a combination of fine bran and white flour.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022
The British brand McVitie’s even has a dunking expert, Stuart Farrimond, and he claims that dunking digestives in a milky drink releases more flavor than you’d get from a dry one.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022
As we talk the crunching sound of a biscuit packet being raided emanates from the kitchen as Jonny makes headway into the chocolate digestives.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 24, 2010
Madeira port and brandy mingled were but digestives.
From The Adventures of Hugh Trevor by Thomas Holcroft
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
