Form"a*tive (?), a. [Cf. F. formatif.]

1.

Giving form; having the power of giving form; plastic; as, the formative arts.

The meanest plant can not be raised without seed, by any formative residing in the soil. Bentley.

2. Gram.

Serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a termination merely formative.

3. Biol.

Capable of growth and development; germinal; as, living or formative matter.

 

© Webster 1913.


Form"a*tive, n. Gram. (a)

That which serves merely to give form, and is no part of the radical, as the prefix or the termination of a word.

(b)

A word formed in accordance with some rule or usage, as from a root.

 

© Webster 1913.