Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by expression.
- adj. Serving to express or indicate: actions expressive of frustration.
- adj. Full of expression; significant: an expressive glance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Effectively conveying thought or feeling.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Serving to express, utter, or represent; indicative; communicative; -- followed by of.
- adj. Full of expression; vividly representing the meaning or feeling meant to be conveyed; significant; emphatic.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Full of expression; forcibly expressing or clearly representing; significant.
- Serving to express, utter, or represent: followed by of: as, a look expressive of gratitude.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. characterized by expression
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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Given that the state being articulated is not strictly necessarily emotional, other linguists prefer the term expressive, so that's what I'll run with.
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In this case our ordinary system of habits -- those which we call expressive of our "real selves" -- inhibit or quench (keep inactive or partially inactive) those habits and instinctive tendencies which belong largely in the past.
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And that the literal signification has not altogether been lost in the spiritual and metaphorical use of it, as a term expressive of religious experience, is quite plain from many of the cases in which it occurs.
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In its place in the brain it is like a book in a library; and as the book offers on its back a title expressive of its contents, so we label each convolution with its proper title.
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Will any of your correspondents be good enough to explain the circumstances which gave rise to the adoption of "farina" as a term expressive of baseness and disparagement?
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FOUTRE, _s. _ a term expressive of the greatest contempt.
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We are almost afraid to say what Mr. Waffles 'means were, but we really believe, at the time he came of age, that he had 100,000_l. _ in the funds, which were nearly at' par '-- a term expressive of each hundred being worth a hundred, and not eighty-nine or ninety pounds as is now the case, which makes a considerable difference in the melting.
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On the other hand, if the husband would secure a cheerful obedience, and cherish, instead of spoil, an amiable temper, or regulate a peevish one, let his wishes be reasonable in themselves, and uttered without a look or a term expressive of an insolent consciousness of superiority.
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Those learned and able divines began their labours by arranging, in the most systematic order, the various great and sacred truths which God has revealed to man; and then reduced these to thirty-two distinct heads or chapters, each having a title expressive of its subject.
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` awful 'woman, _I_ should say; that's only a term expressive of a different kind of admiration.
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