formative

1. 1.

   minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function

   Broaderlanguage unit

Other forms of formative

plural

formatives·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about formative

What does formative mean?

formative means "capable of forming new cells and tissues". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in formative?

formative has 3 syllables: for-ma-tive. The stress falls on "for". In IPA it is /ˈfɔɹmətɪv/.

What is another word for formative?

Close synonyms include shaping, plastic. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is formative a common word?

formative is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with formative?

2 words rhyme with formative. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.