suggestive

C2+ Topic:Mind & Cognition

US /səgˈdʒɛstɪv/ UK /səˈdʒɛstɪv/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
tending to suggest an idea, often something risqué

The painting's suggestive imagery sparked heated debate.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · tending to suggest an idea,... evocative indicative provocativerisquéreminiscent allusive

Opposites

unsuggestiveexplicit decorous

Word family

Forms suggestiveness

Derived forms suggestivelysuggestiveness

Related forms suggest suggestion gesture digest

Etymology

From suggest + -ive. Suggest is from Latin suggestus, past participle of suggerere ('to bring up, supply, prompt'), from sub- ('up, under') + gerere ('to carry, bring').

sub Latin gerere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Mind & Cognition Word Formation & Derivatives

# suggestive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** səgˈdʒɛstɪv
**IPA (UK):** səˈdʒɛstɪv

## Meanings
1. tending to suggest an idea, often something risqué

## Examples
- The painting's suggestive imagery sparked heated debate.

## Synonyms
- evocative
- indicative
- provocative
- risqué
- reminiscent
- allusive

## Antonyms
- unsuggestive
- explicit
- decorous

## Derived Forms
- suggestively
- suggestiveness

## Related Forms
- suggest
- suggestion
- gesture
- digest

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sub
- Root: gerere

## Etymology
From suggest + -ive. Suggest is from Latin suggestus, past participle of suggerere ('to bring up, supply, prompt'), from sub- ('up, under') + gerere ('to carry, bring').

## AI Etymology
Suggestive comes from suggest + -ive. Suggest is from Latin suggestus, past participle of suggerere ('to bring up, supply, prompt'), from sub- ('up, under') + gerere ('to carry, bring'). The historical chain includes Latin sub and Latin gerere. The quoted older senses, "to bring up, supply, prompt", "up, under", and "to carry, bring", supply the semantic anchors for suggestive. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, participial, and borrowed: the word suggestive carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "tending to suggest an idea, often something risqué". English derivatives include suggestively and suggestiveness; related English forms include suggest, suggestion, gesture, and digest. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Mind & Cognition
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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