Formative
/ˈfɔːmətɪv/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjCapable of forming something.
adjCapable of forming something., Capable of producing new tissue.
Sentence Examples
His formative years were very unhappy.
It was in Algiers that he spent the formative years of his life.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The early years are a ____ period in a child's development.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Her experiences in high school had a ____ influence on her choice to become a social worker.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English formatyve, formatif (“having the ability to form”), from Old French formatif, formative (modern French formatif), from Medieval Latin formātīvus, from Latin fōrmātus + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘doing’ or ‘related to doing’). Fōrmātus is the perfect passive participle of fōrmō (“to form, to shape”), from fōrma (“a form, shape”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “a form, shape”) (see further at that entry). By surface analysis, form + -ative.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[I]ts thought, that, in the Seed are alvvaies potentially ſeuerall indiuiduating Qualities deriu'd from diuers of the neere Anceſtors, vvhich by the formatiue povver of the Parents may be expreſt in the Children, vvith reſpectiue habitude to either Sex; […]"
— 1614, John Selden, “The Preface”, in Titles of Honor, London: […] William Stansby for Iohn Helme, […], →OCLC, signature [b4], recto:
"Hybrids, […] have their reproductive organs functionally impotent, as may be clearly seen in the state of the male element in both plants and animals; though the formative organs themselves are perfect in structure, as far as the microscope reveals."
— 1866, Charles Darwin, “Hybridism”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], 4th edition, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 293:
"[T]his museum of the state of flux [Newmarket, Suffolk] has a climate unrivalled for the production of the British temperament. Not without a due proportion of that essential formative of character, east wind, it has at once the hottest sun, the coldest blizzards, the wettest rain, of any place of its size in 'the three kingdoms.'"
— 1907, John Galsworthy, “The Happy Hunting-ground”, in The Country House, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part I, page 33:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The early years are a ____ period in a child's development.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Her experiences in high school had a ____ influence on her choice to become a social worker.