Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use constructive in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Constructive means relating to or causing construction. Example: “OK, OK, they've already gotten the constructive criticism. Now you're just piling on.”

Examples of constructive by meaning

adjectiveServing a useful purpose.

  • At the same time, it was Marx's view that under communism men's individual possibilities would display themselves only in socially constructive ways, so that conflicts among individuals would lose all raison d'être.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon...

adjectiveNot direct or expressed, but inferred.

  • On the eve of my resignation I knew that my role was already a symbolic one, and that Gerald Ford's was now the constructive one.1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973–1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1077

More sentences with constructive

  • OK, OK, they've already gotten the constructive criticism. Now you're just piling on.From the entry pile on
  • The ship was declared a constructive total loss.From the entry total loss
  • It is a common assumption that a constructive dismissal is automatically unfair.2014, James A.. Holland, Stuart Burnett, Employment Law, →ISBN, page 272. From the entry constructive dismissal
  • Lutheran ethics is critical and constructive reflection on Christian moral practice.1998, Karen L. Bloomquist, John R. Stumme, The Promise of Lutheran Ethics, Fortress Press, →ISBN, page 11. From the entry Lutheranly
  • I'll try to make this a constructive discussion and be as objective as possible.1994 March 4, tp...@vmsb.is.csupomona.edu, soc.culture.hongkong.entertainment (Usenet). From the entry inch
  • How do we find constructive ways to respond to a situation this complex?1987 February 22, N. Diffloth, “Violence, by Women, against Women”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 31, page 8. From the entry turn to
  • For that matter we can build robo-animals to accomplish constructive purposes within the pattern of the ecology.1974 May, Isaac Asimov, “—That Thou Art Mindful of Him!”, in Edward L[ewis] Ferman, editor, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction…. From the entry robo-animal
  • Every form of hostility, even constructive criticism directed against leadership, is Draconically suppressed.1948 summer, Franz Alexander, “The Price of Peace”, in Child Study: A Quarterly Journal of Parent Education, New York, N.Y.: Child Study…. From the entry draconically
  • His mind insisted on rechewing its doubts, rather than engage in constructive thought.1941, Robert A. Heinlein, “They”, in Rod Serling’s Other Worlds, New York: Bantam, published 1978, page 17. From the entry rechew
  • Yet true destructive power is power just the same as constructive.1925, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Blessed are the Powerful”, in Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays, 1st American…. From the entry scourge
  • I acknowledge the Labour Party has brought forward constructive proposals in relation to housing in this Dáil and the previous Dáil.2026 March 19, Simon Harris, “Questions on Policy or Legislation”, in Dáil Éireann debates, Oireachtas, archived from the original on 07…. From the entry Dáil
  • However, an implication floats over the proactive, constructive intent of the phrase: its element of distance, coolness, indifference.2023 September 12, John McWhorter, “What Is 'It Is What It Is'?”, in New York Times, retrieved 13 Sep 2023. From the entry it is what it is
  • In this approach, the delay datatype quotiented by weak bisimilarity is still a monad–a constructive alternative to the maybe monad.2019, James Chapman, Tarmo Uustalu, Niccolò Veltri, “Quotienting the delay monad by weak bisimilarity”, in Mathematical Structures in…. From the entry quotient
  • But Comic Relief’s biennial guilt trip perpetuates these stereotypes and fails to move the debate on in a constructive way.2017 March 24, David Lammy, “Africa deserves better from Comic Relief”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry guilt trip
  • Your subconscious processes are always lifeward and constructive.2016, Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. From the entry lifeward
  • Strongly dense sublocales, almost discrete spaces, overlap algebras, constructive topology..2016, Francesco Ciraulo, “Overlap Algebras as Almost Discrete Locales”, in arXiv. From the entry sublocales
  • This argument is important and constructive, for it helps to establish the foundational differences between the EU and nation states.2015, Tove H. Malloy, Francesco Palermo, Minority Accommodation through Territorial and Non-Territorial Autonomy, Oxford University Press…. From the entry demoicracy
  • All that a finding of constructive dismissal does is to show that the employee (despite having resigned) was in fact dismissed.2014, James A.. Holland, Stuart Burnett, Employment Law, →ISBN, page 272. From the entry constructive dismissal
  • Again his parents and supportful employment staff hit on a resourceful solution for turning the problem into a constructive activity.2013, Eric Schopler, Parent Survival Manual. From the entry supportful
  • Ngema used his song to initiate what he called a "constructive discussion" about conflicts separating Zulus and Afro-Indians.2008, Patrick Lynn Rivers, Governing Hate and Race in the United States and South Africa, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 97. From the entry Afro-Indian
  • Gingerism in the workplace could form the basis of formal grievances or constructive dismissal cases, an employment lawyer has warned.2007 June 14, “Red hair bullying cases could end up in court”, in The Register. From the entry gingerism
  • Brouwer’s criticism destroyed this dream of unity: classical logic was not suited for constructive features and therefore it lost its universality.1991 June 20, Jean-Yves Girard, “On the unity of logic”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), number 59, North-Holland…. From the entry antiphrasis
  • Being in a mood of constructive criticism, I suggest that all future student conferences be made strictly social affairs.1926, The Chinese Students’ Monthly, volume 22, Detroit, Mich.: Chinese Students' Alliance in the United States of America, →OCLC, section…. From the entry hokum
  • The positive and constructive aspect of possibility gives the key to understanding the two chief traits of immaturity, dependence and plasticity.1916, John Dewey, Democracy and Education. From the entry trait
  • The progress of tonight's debate makes one profoundly conscious of the constructive shortcomings of the Cobdenism of today.1906, FE Smith, maiden speech to House of Commons, 12 Mar 1906. From the entry Cobdenism
  • What constructive mathematicians know is that there are mathematical universes in which sets are like topological spaces and properties are like open sets.2005, Andrej Bauer, Mathematics and Computation: The Law of Excluded Middle. From the entry LEM
  • When we consider what mathematicians who live in such a universe see, we discover many fascinating kinds of mathematics, which tend to be constructive.2005, Andrej Bauer, Mathematics and Computation: The Law of Excluded Middle. From the entry LEM
  • But the black church also operates out of a constructive cultural amnesia still clinging to remnants of the malignant forms of Christianity offered by slaveholders.2004 July, Barbara Ann Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church, Fortress Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 40. From the entry whiteanity
  • I figured I should do something constructive, so I decided to call up Gramma and hope that she'd offer to send me some money.1997, Stephan Jaramillo, Going Postal, page 47. From the entry gramma
  • The only constructive effort which the Pan-Slavist Center in Belgrade initiated was an attempt at cooperation with the newly emerging Panislamic groups.1997, Serbian Studies - Volumes 11-12, page 8. From the entry Panislamic
  • During the past two years we have been at great pains to elaborate a constructive programme to be followed after the wage-earners had repudiated wagery.1968, Ken Coates, Anthony Topham, Tony Topham, Industrial Democracy in Great Britain, page 40. From the entry wagery
  • However, the proofs of the more general classical result of Peano, stated below in a form suitable for constructive analysis, use sequential compactness and therefore cannot readily be constructivised.2013, Ulrich Berger, Hannes Diener, Peter Schuster, Logic, Construction, Computation, page 67. From the entry constructivise
  • It is as a pioneer and “land clearer” that we know Martin-Löf – one of the principal clarifiers of the syntax and semantics of constructive mathematics.2012 -, P. Dybjer, Sten Lindström, Erik Palmgren, Epistemology versus Ontology, →ISBN. From the entry clarifier
  • This sounds like an AP English class, but in fact, the online community of fan fiction writers are willing to beta-read and be mentors, giving constructive feedback.2010, Erin A. Pyne, The Ultimate Guide to the Harry Potter Fandom, page 128. From the entry beta-read
  • They can translate positive and negative comments into constructive criticism like “better not play that record anymore on ASOT” or “maybe try another mix on that track”.2009, Rock 'n' Roll High School, Reading Rocks, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 93. From the entry ASOT
  • He was always around, he was always complaining, he had an opinion about everything, but he would never contribute anything constructive to any situation he was involved in.2009, Leighton Rockafellow, Immaculate Deception, Wheatmark, page 38. From the entry George Costanza
  • I want to say that the individualization of living beings – and only living beings manifest the characteristics of individualization – is a constructive process that follows a design.2000, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Impetus and Equipoise in the Life-Strategies of Reason: Logos and Life: Book 4 [Analecta Husserliana: The…. From the entry entelechial
  • And the money that they're borrowin', if they were puttin' up a home with it or something, do something constructive with the money, you can say, well, it pays.1999, Julia G. Crane, Statia Silhouettes, page 75. From the entry borrowin'

Meaning of constructive

  1. adjective Relating to or causing construction.
  2. adjective Carefully considered and meant to be helpful.
  3. adjective Serving a useful purpose.

Full definition of constructive

Questions about constructive in a sentence

How do you use constructive in a sentence?
Constructive is used as an adjective. For example: “OK, OK, they've already gotten the constructive criticism. Now you're just piling on.”
What is a short sentence with constructive?
“The ship was declared a constructive total loss.”
What does constructive mean?
Constructive means relating to or causing construction.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: constructive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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