significative
Americanadjective
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(of a sign, mark, etc) symbolic
-
another word for significant
Other Word Forms
- nonsignificative adjective
- significatively adverb
- significativeness noun
- unsignificative adjective
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
The Smiths, Bakers, and Hunters of Occidental society are not a whit more significative than are many prominent names of the Orient.
From Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume 1 From San Francisco to Teheran by Stevens, Thomas
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
These sculptures of St. Zeno are, however, quite quiet and tame compared with those of St. Michele of Pavia, which are designed also in a somewhat gloomier mood; significative, as I think, of indigestion.
From The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3) by Ruskin, John
Nor are the little curves, thus significative of trees, laid on at random.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by Ruskin, John
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.
