sportive
Americanadjective
-
playful or joyous
-
done in jest rather than seriously
-
of, relating to, or interested in sports
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obsolete wanton or amorous
a sportive wench
Other Word Forms
- sportively adverb
- sportiveness noun
- unsportive adjective
- unsportively adverb
- unsportiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of sportive
Explanation
Sportive is a good adjective to describe fun-loving people who are playful and lively, like your sportive friends who run straight to the water or hit the volleyball court when they get to the beach. Sportive describes people whose idea of fun is being in motion. They run around, hike, bike, play sports — anything but sit still. There is another meaning of sportive that doesn't require so much action. Those sportive types are sports fans, who may be athletes themselves, or just big fans of a team or a sport.
Vocabulary lists containing sportive
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 2
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"Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth
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The Comedy of Errors
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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.
For once there was a justification for Mr. Koolhaas’s sportive diagonals.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
She was strumming her guitar and in the middle of a sportive preamble to the first surprise song of the show.
From Salon • Oct. 13, 2023
And is there a consciousness more sportive and splendid than Tom Stoppard’s?
From New York Times • Oct. 18, 2018
The day before the race, I joined thousands of keen amateurs on a "sportive" ride along part of the route.
From BBC • Apr. 7, 2018
It was the only logical explanation; she must have misunderstood the true meaning of the conversation, for she was not used to grown men jesting with one another in such a free and sportive way.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
