iterative

American  

[it-uh-rey-tiv, -er-uh-tiv] / ˈɪt əˌreɪ tɪv, -ər ə tɪv /

adjective

1. repeating; making repetition; repetitious.

2. relating to or noting a development strategy that involves a cyclical process of refining or tweaking the latest version or iteration of a product, process, or idea to make a subsequent version: The new restaurant finalized their menu after a year of diner feedback and iterative improvements.

   Website design is highly iterative.

   The new restaurant finalized their menu after a year of diner feedback and iterative improvements.

3. Grammar. frequentative.

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iterative British  

/ ˈɪtərətɪv /

adjective

1. repetitious or frequent

2. maths logic another word for recursive See recursive

3. grammar another word for frequentative

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Other Word Forms

• iteratively adverb
• iterativeness noun
• uniterative adjective

Etymology

Origin of iterative

First recorded in 1450–1500; from Late Latin iterātīvum (verbum) “frequentative (verb).” See iterate, -ive

Explanation

If your boss asks you to be iterative in your sales speech, she means she wants you to repeat the main points many times. An iteration is a repetition, so something that's iterative is a repeated appearance. When you listen to a symphony, the theme that keeps returning is iterative. You might recognize the word best from the more common reiterate, which means to restate. When after lecturing your kid sister on doing the dishes, you restate the rules of the house — wash what you dirty! — that is the iterative part of your lecture. I think she gets it.

Example Sentences

In that, Rawlinson said he saw a rare chance to rethink how cars were created, eschewing traditional processes that he saw as simply iterative of what had come before.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

The lean startup method is an “approach emphasizing rapid experimentation, iterative development, and data-driven decision making.”

From MarketWatch • Nov. 5, 2025

The pitch from them both amounted to arguing that they are assembling what they see as a careful set of thoughtful, workable, iterative steps forward on asylum policy.

From BBC • Sep. 2, 2025

Our response must be adaptive, experimental and iterative: a continuous process of design evolution, shaped by trial and error, much like nature itself.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2025

She had the temperament that finds a virtue in the day’s work, and a balm in its mere iterative quality.

From Turn About Eleanor by Cootes, F. Graham