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View synonyms for sportive

sportive

[ spawr-tiv, spohr- ]

adjective

  1. playful or frolicsome; jesting, jocose, or merry:

    a sportive puppy.

    Synonyms: frisky, sprightly, gay, jocular

  2. done in sport, rather than in earnest:

    a sportive show of affection.

  3. pertaining to or of the nature of a sport or sports. sports.
  4. Biology. mutative.
  5. Archaic. ardent; wanton.


sportive

/ ˈspɔːtɪv /

adjective

  1. playful or joyous
  2. done in jest rather than seriously
  3. of, relating to, or interested in sports
  4. obsolete.
    wanton or amorous

    a sportive wench

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈsportiveness, noun
  • ˈsportively, adverb
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Other Words From

  • sportive·ly adverb
  • sportive·ness Archaic, sporta·bili·ty noun
  • un·sportive adjective
  • un·sportive·ly adverb
  • un·sportive·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of sportive1

First recorded in 1580–90; sport + -ive
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Example Sentences

With trees swaying in the gentle breeze and birds and butterflies gamboling in the setting sun, it would be foolish not to fall into sportive line.

She was strumming her guitar and in the middle of a sportive preamble to the first surprise song of the show.

From Salon

“With no thought of buying, the eye is sportive and generous; it creates; it adorns; it enhances,” Woolf writes.

Etape Loch Ness is Scotland's largest closed road cycle sportive, taking cyclists on a route around the Loch, finishing in Inverness.

From BBC

The sportive rhythm of the show doesn’t preclude tragedy.

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