emotive

[ ih-moh-tiv ]

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.

emotive

/ ɪˈməʊtɪv /

adjective

1. tending or designed to arouse emotion
2. of or characterized by emotion

Usage

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

Derived Forms

• eˈmotiveness, noun
• eˈmotively, adverb

Other Words From

• e·motive·ly adverb
• e·motive·ness e·mo·tiv·i·ty [ee-moh-, tiv, -i-tee, ih-moh-], noun
• hyper·e·motive adjective
• hyper·e·motive·ly adverb
• hyper·e·motive·ness noun
• hyper·emo·tivi·ty noun
• none·motive adjective
• none·motive·ly adverb
• none·motive·ness noun
• une·motive adjective
• une·motive·ly adverb
• une·motive·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of emotive¹

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

Example Sentences

Music has that ability to transport you with just a couple of lyrics and notes, so emotive.

From Digiday

We’re rethinking our emoji to better reflect the world we live in and create a more expressive, emotive, and cohesive experience.

From Popular-Science

Sonantic, a firm that specializes in emotive voices that can laugh and cry or whisper and shout, works with video-game makers and animation studios to supply the voice-overs for their characters.

From MIT Technology Review

This becomes important because eye contact is such an emotive and powerful tool to use in transporting a participant.

From TechCrunch

That anguish has led many to embrace a more emotive paradigm across academia and the research community, eschewing the traditional veneer of calm-headed scientific objectivity.

From Ozy

Emotive words and evocative phrases give language its power.

From The Daily Beast

It gets us over that initial, high-stakes moment of emotive acclamation, and skips straight to the conversation.

From The Daily Beast

Kawakubo is not a designer who excels at communicating joy—at least not the emotive version of it.

From The Daily Beast

Ted Wells, an emotive, powerful giant of a lawyer, is already achieving results for the embattled governor of New York.

From The Daily Beast

One can even excite oneself by a reflection or opinion of emotive value, without this emotion having been aroused by anybody else.

From Project Gutenberg

He admits your figures to his conscious belief more readily than he would credit them if spoken in an emotive or power tone.

From Project Gutenberg

The emotive (chest or heart) pitch dissipates opposition as naturally as the mind tone provokes a quarrel.

From Project Gutenberg

Mental, emotive, and power characteristics are signified by various tone pitches.

From Project Gutenberg

If the thought behind the objection arises principally from feeling, it will nearly always be expressed in an emotive tone.

From Project Gutenberg