Word.ws English Dictionary

iterative

/ˈɪt(ə)ɹətɪv//ˈɪt(ə)ɹətɪv/

iterative adjective: of a procedure that involves repetition of steps (iteration) to achieve the desired outcome; in computing this may involve a mechanism such as a loop.

Adjective

iterative (not comparable)

  1. Of a procedure that involves repetition of steps (iteration) to achieve the desired outcome; in computing this may involve a mechanism such as a loop.
    Synonyms:
    repeated, repetitive
  2. Expressive of an action that is repeated with frequency.

Noun

iterative (plural iteratives)

  1. A verb showing the iterative aspect.

Examples of iterative in a sentence

  • ILI's provide feedback used to create improved iterative versions of the pretotype for repeated testing.
  • As an expression of the iterative habitual suffixal -s is by no means recent.
  • Most updates this month are iterative rather than substantial, but Firefoxers finally get their new Google Toolbar.

All 12 example sentences with iterative

Synonyms of iterative

Antonyms

Forms of iterative

Adjective
alternative formiter.
Noun
pluraliteratives

Origin of iterative

Borrowed from French itératif.

Words formed from iterative

Phrases with iterative

Questions about iterative

What does iterative mean?
Iterative means of a procedure that involves repetition of steps (iteration) to achieve the desired outcome; in computing this may involve a mechanism such as a loop.
What part of speech is iterative?
Iterative can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce iterative?
Iterative is pronounced /ˈɪt(ə)ɹətɪv/ (UK).

Words near iterative in the dictionary

  1. iterating
  2. iteration
  3. iteration mark
  4. iteration marks
  5. iterations
  6. iterative
  7. iterative aspect
  8. iterative deepening search
  9. iterative deepening searches
  10. iterative evolution
  11. iterative evolutions

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: iterative (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-iterative.ogg, en-us-iterative.ogg, en-au-iterative.ogg.

Cite this entry: “iterative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/iterative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.