I've
1 Americansuffix
-
(forming adjectives) indicating a tendency, inclination, character, or quality
divisive
prohibitive
festive
massive
-
( forming nouns of adjectival origin )
detective
expletive
contraction
Usage
See contraction.
Etymology
Origin of -ive
< Latin -īvus; in some words, representing French -ive, feminine of -if
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:
"I've always made the joke that I'll never be a Buddhist because it's a middle path," she smiles.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
"I've still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still. But that's the power structure," she added.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
"I've obviously done a super-deep dive into rave culture and watched loads of rave footage from all these little free parties where they would find an empty field," he says.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
“There aren’t a lot like him that I’ve been around,” Telesco said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
In the past week since my birthday, I’ve been on a never-ending ride of emotions.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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What should be done with the terminations -able, -ible, -tion, -cial, -tive, -ive, and -sion?
From Division of Words Rules for the Division of Words at the Ends of Lines, with Remarks on Spelling, Syllabication and Pronunciation by Frederick W. (Frederick William) Hamilton
In Shakespeare many adjectives, especially those ending in -ful, -less, -ble, and -ive, have both an active and a passive meaning.
From The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar by Ebenezer Charlton Black
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.