generative

English

Etymology

From Middle English generatyve, generatyf, generatif. Compare French génératif.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɛnəɹətɪv/, /ˈdʒɛnɹətɪv/, /dʒəˈnɛɹətɪv/

Adjective

generative (comparative more generative, superlative most generative)

1. Having the power of generating, propagating, originating, or producing.
   • 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:

     That generative particle.

   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 127:

     Of course, structures like those associated with (36) and (37) constitute only a tiny subset of the infinite set of well-formed sentence structures found in English. We can increase the Generative Capacity of our grammar ( = the set of structures which it generates) either by expanding the Lexicon on the one hand, or by expanding the Categorial Rules (i.e. Phrase Structure Rules) on the other.

Synonyms

• creative

Antonyms

• annihilative

Related terms

• degenerative

Translations

having the power of generating

• Bulgarian: размножителен (razmnožitelen), производителен (bg) (proizvoditelen)
• Finnish: generatiivinen

• Georgian: მაწარმოებელი (mac̣armoebeli), წარმომშობი (c̣armomšobi)
• Serbo-Croatian: generativan (sh), stvaralački (sh)

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German

Adjective

generative

1. inflection of generativ:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

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Italian

Adjective

generative

1. feminine plural of generativo

Anagrams

• generatevi