emotive

American  

[ih-moh-tiv] / ɪˈmoʊ tɪv /

adjective

1. characterized by or pertaining to emotion.

   the emotive and rational capacities of humankind.

2. productive of or directed toward the emotions.

   Artistic distortion is often an emotive use of form.

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emotive British  

/ ɪˈməʊtɪv /

adjective

1. tending or designed to arouse emotion

2. of or characterized by emotion

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Usage

Emotional is preferred to emotive when describing a display of emotion: he was given an emotional (not emotive ) welcome

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hyperemotive
  adjective
• nonemotiveness
  noun
• emotively
  adverb
• unemotively
  adverb
• unemotiveness
  noun
• unemotive
  adjective
• emotivity
  noun
• hyperemotively
  adverb
• emotiveness
  noun
• nonemotive
  adjective
• hyperemotiveness
  noun
• hyperemotivity
  noun
• nonemotively
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of emotive

First recorded in 1725–35; emot(ion) + -ive

Explanation

Something described as emotive shows feeling. If you consider women more emotive than men, you think that women are more comfortable sharing their feelings than men. While the word emotive is similar to the word emotional, it's important to note that the two aren't interchangeable. Emotive is used with regard to something that makes you have intense feelings rather than just having intense feelings. For example, an emotive conversation will result in getting people's emotions riled up, while an emotional conversation is one in which people go into it with a lot of intense feelings already.

Example Sentences

The actor gives an overly emotive performance as Dwight D. Eisenhower in this clunky D-Day drama.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

“The emotive nature of the category, alongside these durable levers that we bring to market, puts us in a category which is relatively much more inert to some of these macro headwinds,” Singh said.

From Barron's • May 19, 2026

One network identified in the study, based in Vietnam, used AI-generated imagery and the impersonation of local media outlets to spread emotive content to more than one million followers.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

Jung Kook and J-Hope focused on performance-led pop, while Jimin, V and Jin highlighted their vocals, with more emotive work.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

Dark and emotive, they suggested a trace of ex-otic blood in his heritage—Greek, maybe, or Chippewa—and conveyed a vulnerability that made Westerberg want to take the kid under his wing.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer