significative
Americanadjective
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(of a sign, mark, etc) symbolic
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another word for significant
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of significative
1350–1400; Middle English (< Old French significatif, significative ) < Late Latin significātīvus denoting, equivalent to Latin significāt ( us ) (past participle of significāre to make a sign; see signify, -ate 1) + -īvus -ive
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.
But in course of time these words have lost their force—their meaning has been forgotten—and they have come to be mere proper names, designative but not significative.
From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George
To which the Count replied, by the word Speranza, accompanied by a clasp of the hand and a significative glance.
From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 by Various
Other nations were willing to spend vast sums of money on these shows, but in Italy alone do we find an artistic method of treatment which arranged the processions as a harmonious and significative whole.
From The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Burckhardt, Jacob
The Quakers, in reply to this, would observe, that they use the word friend, as significative of their own union, and, when they speak to others, as significative of their Christian relation to one another.
From A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1 by Clarkson, Thomas
Hence the possible number of words is extremely small, and the number of significative sounds in the Chinese language is said to be no more than 450.
From Chips From A German Workshop - Volume I Essays on the Science of Religion by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
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.
