receptive
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receptive
- /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/ UK
- /ɹəˈsɛptɪv/ US
Rhymes with -ɛptɪv
Where it comes from
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”)).
adjective more receptive · most receptive
-
Capable of receiving something.
Opposite: irreceptive, nonreceptive, unreceptive
-
Ready to receive something, especially new concepts or ideas.
receptive to the idea
Similar: acceptive, susceptive · Opposite: 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 visitor
-
Of, affecting, or pertaining to the understanding of language rather than its expression.
receptive fluency
Opposite: expressive
-
Of a female animal (especially a mammal): prepared to mate; in heat, in oestrus.
Similar: oestrual
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: admissive, acceptant, acceptive, hospitable, sensory, pervious, afferent, centripetal, open to, enabling, accessible, conducive, responsiveness, admissible, willing, amenable
Translations
Every language
adj capable of receiving something
| Español | receptivo |
|---|---|
| Português | receptivo, recetivo, recetível, receptível |
| Deutsch | rezeptiv, empfangsbereit |
| Italiano | recettibile, ricettivo |
| Ελληνικά | παθητικός pathitikós |
| Română | receptiv, primitor |
| Русский | восприимчивый vospriimčivyj |
adj ready to receive something, especially new concepts or ideas
| Español | receptivo |
|---|---|
| Português | receptivo, recetivo, recetível, receptível, aberto |
| Français | réceptif |
| Deutsch | aufnahmefähig, empfänglich |
| العربية | سَمَّاع sammāʕ |
Talk about this word "receptive." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/receptive. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. receptive. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/receptive "receptive." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/receptive.Cite this
@misc{receptive_2026,
title = {receptive},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/receptive},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
