informative
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- informatively adverb
- informativeness noun
- noninformative adjective
- noninformatively adverb
- noninformativeness noun
- uninformative adjective
- uninformatively adverb
Etymology
Origin of informative
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English: “formative,” from Medieval Latin infōrmātīvus, from Latin infōrmāt(us) “given form to” (past participle of infōrmāre “to give form to, instruct, shape”; see inform 1) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Use the adjective informative to describe something that gives you some kind of useful information, like an informative book about identifying the mushrooms you find growing wild in the woods near your house. When something is informative, it's usually educational and full of facts — like an informative text book or an informative tour of the Hindu temples of northern India. If you learn a lot from something, you can call it informative. The Latin root of informative is the word informare, which means "to shape, train, instruct, or educate." Something that does those things for you is informative.
Vocabulary lists containing informative
Shape Up: Form
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Keystone Exams: English Composition Glossary
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Speech and Debate
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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.
This often results in entertaining, informative work: Acquired, a deeply researched show by two starry-eyed tech investors, regularly tops podcast charts with dives into famous companies.
From Slate • Apr. 7, 2026
"I'm not a parent and I've never been around someone giving birth so I found it incredibly informative," he says.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
In rare diseases and advanced cancer, such demands can be impractical, ethically dubious and less informative than carefully analyzed real-world evidence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
These structural changes proved to be more informative for identifying disease stage than simply measuring protein concentrations.
From Science Daily • Mar. 12, 2026
He even proposed, very radically, to put informative labels on each display so that people could appreciate what they were viewing.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
