receptive
Syllables: re·cept·ive/ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/US/ɹəˈsɛptɪv/
receptive adjective: capable of receiving something.
Adjective
receptive (comparative more receptive, superlative most receptive)
- Capable of receiving something.
- Antonyms:
- irreceptive, nonreceptive, unreceptive
- Ready to receive something, especially new concepts or ideas.
- receptive to the idea
- The patient was receptive to her treatment.
- Synonyms:
- acceptive, susceptive
- Antonyms:
- unreceptive
- Ready for reproduction; fertile.
- When the delightful draught is quaffed and the winged beggar turns to leave, it is confronted with a straight and narrow way out, and before the open can be reached our bee must squeeze under a receptive stigma covered with sticky hairs which comb the pollen grains from the fuzzy back of the...1917 June, National Geographic Magazine, Volume 31/Number 6/Our State Flowers/The Moccasin Flower
- Of, affecting, or pertaining to the understanding of language rather than its expression.
- receptive fluency
- receptive aphasia
- Antonyms:
- expressive
- Of a female animal (especially a mammal): prepared to mate; in heat, in oestrus.
- Synonyms:
- oestrual
receptive meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
receptive in Tamil
- சொல்வதை வரவேற்கும் பண்பு, வரவேற்றல் நிலை, வரவேற்கும் முறை, வாங்குந்தன்மையுள்ள, இயைந்த
receptive in Urdu
- قابل
receptive in Bengali
- গ্রহণশীল, সহানুভূতিশীল
receptive in Malayalam
- വാങ്ങുന്ന, പുതിയ ആശയങ്ങളോട് ആഭിമുഖമ്യമുള്ള, സ്വീകരണ സന്നദ്ധതയുള്ള
More languagesFewer languages
- receptive in Kannada
- ಗ್ರಹಣಶೀಲವಾದ, ಗ್ರಹಿಸುವ, ಗ್ರಹಣ ಶಕ್ತಿಯುಳ್ಳ, ಶೀಘ್ರಗ್ರಾಹಿಯಾದ
- receptive in Arabic
- سَمَّاع sammāʕ
- receptive in Persian
- نیوشا niyušâ
Examples of receptive in a sentence
- What’s more, it features what he called new “buttonology” to which users are more receptive.
- By no means all these towns proved receptive to the Reformation.
- Then we are the Grail as the prepared, receptive space waiting for the Christ Light.
Synonyms of receptive
Antonyms
Forms of receptive
| comparative | more receptive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most receptive |
Origin of receptive
From Late Middle English receptive, receptyue (“capable of receiving something; acting as a receptacle”), borrowed from Medieval Latin receptivus (“capable of receiving something”), from Latin receptus (“retaken, having been retaken; received, having been received”) + -īvus (suffix added to the perfect passive participial stems of verbs, forming a deverbal adjective meaning ‘doing; related to doing’). Receptus is the perfect passive participle of recipiō (“to regain possession, take back; to recapture; to receive; to accept, undertake”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards; again’) + capiō (“to capture, catch, take; to take hold, take possession; to take on; to contain, hold; to occupy; to possess; to receive, take in; to comprehend, understand; to captivate, charm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)).
Words formed from receptive
- baroreceptive
- bioreceptive
- bio-receptive
- chemoreceptive
- electroreceptive
- extrareceptive
- hygroreceptive
- irreceptive
- magnetoreceptive
- mechanoreceptive
- multireceptive
- nociceptive
- nonreceptive
- osmoreceptive
- photoreceptive
- prereceptive
- proprioceptive
- receptive aphasia
- receptive field
- receptive language
- receptively
- receptiveness
- receptive spot
- receptivity
- telereceptive
- thermoreceptive
- unreceptive
- unreceptively
- unreceptiveness
Phrases with receptive
Words that rhyme with receptive
Questions about receptive
- What does receptive mean?
- Receptive means capable of receiving something.
- What is receptive in Tamil?
- Receptive in Tamil is சொல்வதை வரவேற்கும் பண்பு, வரவேற்றல் நிலை, வரவேற்கும் முறை. See Receptive meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is receptive?
- Receptive is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce receptive?
- Receptive is pronounced /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/ (UK).
Words near receptive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: receptive (page history and authors); receptive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); receptive (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); receptive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); receptive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); receptive (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-receptive.wav.
Cite this entry: “receptive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/receptive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.