formative
Other forms: formatively; formatives
Formative is a word that describes something that made you who you are. You might call your adolescence your formative years because that time period had such a strong influence on the rest of your life.
The word form means “to shape.” Something that is formative is capable of shaping or molding something or someone. A formative experience is one that strongly influenced you, like the first time you went to the beach and decided, from that day, that you wanted to become a world-class surfer. Formative can also describe an organism that is able to form new cells. In linguistics, the noun formative is a small language unit that can help shape or form a word.
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minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) functiontype of:language unit, linguistic unitone of the natural units into which linguistic messages can be analyzed
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forming or capable of forming or molding or fashioning“a formative influence”“a formative experience”constructiveconstructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development
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capable of forming new cells and tissues“a formative zone in developing bone”synonyms:constructiveconstructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development
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formidable / formative
Vocabulary lists containing formative
Whip your vocabulary into shape by practicing these words that contain the Latin root form, meaning "shape."
Learn the correct meanings and usages of these commonly confused words for ninth- and tenth-grade students.