sportive

American  

[spawr-tiv, spohr-] / ˈspɔr tɪv, ˈspoʊr- /

adjective

1. playful or frolicsome; jesting, jocose, or merry.

   a sportive puppy.

   Synonyms:

   frisky, sprightly, gay, jocular

2. done in sport, rather than in earnest.

   a sportive show of affection.

3. pertaining to or of the nature of a sport or sports. sports.

4. Biology. mutative.

5. Archaic. ardent; wanton.

---

sportive British  

/ ˈspɔːtɪv /

adjective

1. playful or joyous

2. done in jest rather than seriously

3. of, relating to, or interested in sports

4. obsolete wanton or amorous

   a sportive wench

---

Other Word Forms

• sportively adverb
• sportiveness noun
• unsportive adjective
• unsportively adverb
• unsportiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of sportive

First recorded in 1580–90; sport + -ive

Example Sentences

With trees swaying in the gentle breeze and birds and butterflies gamboling in the setting sun, it would be foolish not to fall into sportive line.

From Los Angeles Times

She was strumming her guitar and in the middle of a sportive preamble to the first surprise song of the show.

From Salon

“With no thought of buying, the eye is sportive and generous; it creates; it adorns; it enhances,” Woolf writes.

From Los Angeles Times

Etape Loch Ness is Scotland's largest closed road cycle sportive, taking cyclists on a route around the Loch, finishing in Inverness.

From BBC

The sportive rhythm of the show doesn’t preclude tragedy.

From Los Angeles Times