tentative
Syllables: ten·ta·tive/ˈtɛntətɪv/
tentative noun: a trial; an experiment; an attempt.
Noun
tentative (plural tentatives)
Adjective
tentative (comparative more tentative, superlative most tentative)
- Of or pertaining to a trial or trials; essaying; experimental.
- Uncertain; subject to future change.
- He gave a tentative answer, unsure of the final outcome.
- We have a tentative plan for the weekend, but nothing is confirmed yet.
- Restrained; polite; feeling one's way, not using full force.
- Her tentative steps showed her nervousness as she entered the room.
tentative meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
tentative in Tamil
- ஆய்நிலையான, ஆய்நிலையான இப்போதைக்கான, கருத்தறிவதற்கான, தற்காலிகமான, வௌளோட்டமான, முடிவுறாத இறுதி வடிவம் பெறாத
tentative in Urdu
- عارضی, آزمائش, بطور تجربہ
tentative in Malayalam
- താത്കാലികമായ, പരീക്ഷണാർത്ഥമായ, അനിശ്ചിതമായ
tentative in Kannada
- ತುಸುಹೊತ್ತಿನ, ಒರೆಹಚ್ಚಲಿರುವ, ಕಡೆಯದಲ್ಲದ, ಸದ್ಯದ, ತಾತ್ಕಾಲಿಕ, ಪ್ರಾಯೋಗಿಕ
More languagesFewer languages
- tentative in Indonesian
- tentatif
Examples of tentative in a sentence
- If you're over tentative then you'll get nowhere.
- As the humans establish tentative bonds with their evolutionary cousins, the inter-species waters start to muddy.
- By around 2.3 million years ago, the first tentative record emerges of a new species, a habiline.
Antonyms of tentative
Forms of tentative
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tentatives |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more tentative |
| superlative | most tentative |
Origin of tentative
From Medieval Latin tentātīvus (“trying, testing”), from tentō, past participle tentātus (“to try, test”); see tent, tempt.
Words formed from tentative
Phrases with tentative
Questions about tentative
- What does tentative mean?
- Tentative means a trial; an experiment; an attempt.
- What is tentative in Tamil?
- Tentative in Tamil is ஆய்நிலையான, ஆய்நிலையான இப்போதைக்கான, கருத்தறிவதற்கான. See Tentative meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is tentative?
- Tentative can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce tentative?
- Tentative is pronounced /ˈtɛntətɪv/.
- What is the plural of tentative?
- The plural of tentative is tentatives.
Words near tentative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tentative (page history and authors); tentative (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tentative (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tentative (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tentative (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tentative.wav.
Cite this entry: “tentative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tentative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.