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suggestive

[suh g-jes-tiv, suh-]
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adjective
  1. that suggests; referring to other thoughts, persons, etc.: His recommendation was suggestive of his boss's thinking.
  2. rich in suggestions or ideas: a suggestive critical essay.
  3. evocative; presented partially rather than in detail.
  4. that suggests or implies something improper or indecent; risqué: suggestive remarks.
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Origin of suggestive

First recorded in 1625–35; suggest + -ive
Related formssug·ges·tive·ly, adverbsug·ges·tive·ness, nounnon·sug·ges·tive, adjectivenon·sug·ges·tive·ly, adverbnon·sug·ges·tive·ness, nounpre·sug·ges·tive, adjectiveun·sug·ges·tive, adjectiveun·sug·ges·tive·ly, adverbun·sug·ges·tive·ness, noun

Synonyms

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1. See expressive.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

sexinesssexuality

Examples from the Web for suggestiveness

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It is full of suggestiveness, and, in its way, is as good as a cathedral.

    Tanglewood Tales

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Can the English Gladstonians get away from the suggestiveness of this fact?

    Ireland as It Is

    Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

  • He called her name; the ensuing silence was ghastly in its suggestiveness.

    The Web of the Golden Spider

    Frederick Orin Bartlett

  • The involutions, the suggestiveness so attractive to adult ears, he cannot hear.

    Here and Now Story Book

    Lucy Sprague Mitchell

  • And these have each their special religious associations and suggestiveness.

    The Worship of the Church

    Jacob A. Regester

British Dictionary definitions for suggestiveness

suggestive

adjective
  1. (postpositive foll by of) conveying a hint (of something)this painting is suggestive of a hot summer day
  2. tending to suggest something improper or indecent
  3. able or liable to suggest an idea, plan, etc
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Derived Formssuggestively, adverbsuggestiveness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for suggestiveness

suggestive

adj.

1630s, "conveying a hint," from suggest + -ive. Specifically as a faintly euphemistic reference to proposals of indecent behavior, from 1888. Related: Suggestively; suggestiveness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper