English edit

Etymology edit

From Medieval Latin amātīvus, from Latin amātus, perfect passive participle of amō (love).

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈam.ə.tɪv/
    • (file)

Adjective edit

amative (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to love; amorous.
    • 1898, His amative enthusiasm, at which he is himself laughing, and his clever, imaginative, humorous ways, contrast strongly with the sincere tenderness and dignified quietness of the woman. : George Bernard Shaw, The Philanderer
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 151:
      He was also confounded by its implication in Podson. Damme, the idea of that runt of a feller makin' up to a woman old enough to be his mother! Bradly banged pots about the stove, preparing the evening meal, to relieve himself of an outraged sense of propriety at Podson's amative presumption.
    • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 97:
      His endearments were not amative or effete, but manly like Churchill's, and gave one a sense of being singled out, of having value.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Italian edit

Adjective edit

amative f

  1. feminine plural of amativo

Anagrams edit