interpretive
Americanadjective
-
serving to interpret; explanatory.
-
deduced by interpretation.
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made because of interpretation.
an interpretive distortion of language.
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of or relating to those arts that require an intermediary, as a performer, for realization, as in music or theater.
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offering interpretations, explanations, or guidance, as through lectures, brochures, or films.
the museum's interpretive center.
Other Word Forms
- interpretively adverb
- noninterpretive adjective
- noninterpretively adverb
- noninterpretiveness noun
- self-interpretive adjective
- uninterpretive adjective
- uninterpretively adverb
Etymology
Origin of interpretive
Explanation
Use the adjective interpretive to describe things that explain or define, like an interpretive dance that uses movements and gestures to convey the meaning of a piece of music. Interpretive comes from the Latin word interpretari, which means "explain, expound, understand." Inter- means "between" or "among," so you know there will be two or more parts to things that are interpretive. It's a subjective response that involves the thing that's being interpreted and the person doing the interpreting. A reader might have an interpretive response to a book, a guide will give an interpretative description of a painting for a tour group, and so on.
Vocabulary lists containing interpretive
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.
Theatergoers have to improvise their own interpretive strategies as the play shifts and shifts again.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026
Rather, she wrote, “the ordinary tools of statutory interpretation amply support today’s result,” without any resort to rules that put “a thumb on the interpretive scales.”
From Slate • Feb. 20, 2026
The signage removal comes after a March 2025 executive order called for the review of over 400 national sites to remove or modify interpretive materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026
His interpretive approach, refined over years of studying the nuclear threat, credibly sifts the historical record without slowing the book’s tempo.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
The core revolutionary principle according to this interpretive tradition is individual liberty.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
