receptive
/ɹəˈsɛptɪv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.32 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Ready for reproduction; fertile.
adj
Of, affecting, or pertaining to the understanding of language rather than its expression.
Example Sentences
- "receptive to the idea"
- "The patient was receptive to her treatment."
- "The owner drank cider at the Spotted Woodpigeon and talked pleasantly with the villagers, who, on learning that he had never even heard of the Surrey cattle-maimings, were at great pains to pour information and theories into his receptive ear."
- "But, while the others took weeks - hell, even months - to get used to everything, myself included, you found your footing in a matter of days. And not just that - you've also become someone they can trust, even if they don't seem receptive. It's times like these they're gonna need someone like that the most. You're very strong, Pomni. And I know you'll be able to get through this."
- "When the delightful draught is quaffed and the winged beggar turns to leave, it is confronted with a straight and narrow way out, and before the open can be reached our bee must squeeze under a receptive stigma covered with sticky hairs which comb the pollen grains from the fuzzy back of the visitor."
- "receptive fluency"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Archaic Latin kapiō Latin capiō Latin recipiō Latin receptus Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Medieval Latin receptivusbor. Middle English receptive English receptive From Late Middle English receptive, receptyue (“capable of receiving something; acting as a receptacle”), borrowed from Medieval Latin receptivus (“capable of receiving something”), from Latin receptus (“retaken, having been retaken; received, having been received”) + -īvus (suffix added to the perfect passive participial stems of verbs, forming a deverbal adjective meaning ‘doing; related to doing’). Receptus is the perfect passive participle of recipiō (“to regain possession, take back; to recapture; to receive; to accept, undertake”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards; again’) + capiō (“to capture, catch, take; to take hold, take possession; to take on; to contain, hold; to occupy; to possess; to receive, take in; to comprehend, understand; to captivate, charm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹəˈsɛptɪv/
- British English: /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/
Inflected Forms
more receptive (comparative)
most receptive (superlative)