affective
Americanadjective
-
of, caused by, or expressing emotion or feeling; emotional.
-
causing emotion or feeling.
adjective
-
psychol relating to affects
-
concerned with or arousing the emotions or affection
Other Word Forms
- affectively adverb
- affectivity noun
- nonaffective adjective
Etymology
Origin of affective
1540–50; from Medieval Latin affectīvus, equivalent to Latin affect(us) (action noun; affect 1 ) + -īvus -ive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"But for people who have a profound effect at this time of year, when they get significantly depressed, then those are the kinds of people that we might say are experiencing seasonal affective."
From BBC • Feb. 5, 2026
"Targeting these specific neural circuits could become an effective and more localized strategy to treat affective disorders," Lerma concludes.
From Science Daily • Nov. 4, 2025
The FBI has shared photos of the small drone which on Thursday collided with a plane known as a "Super Scooper", one of the world's most affective firefighting aircrafts, briefly grounding it.
From BBC • Jan. 12, 2025
On top of this endorsement of irony, Berlant also theorized a post-irony characterized by meaningful sincerity, allowing us to patch or bridge the affective conflicts of public life that can’t be resolved through ironic detachment.
From Salon • Nov. 29, 2024
An investigation of an arts infusion program on creative thinking, academic achievement, affective functioning, and arts appreciation of children at three grade levels.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
