Word Study
constructive
CIDE DICTIONARY
constructive, a. [Cf. F. constructif.].
- Having ability to construct or form; employed in construction; as, to exhibit constructive power. [1913 Webster]"The constructive fingers of Watts." [1913 Webster]
- Derived from, or depending on, construction, inference, or interpretation; not directly expressed, but inferred. [1913 Webster]
- helpful; promoting improvement; intended to help; as, constructive criticism; constructive suggestions. Contrasted with
destructive . [PJC]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
constructive, adj.
1 a of construction; tending to construct. b tending to form a basis for ideas (constructive criticism).
2 helpful, positive (a constructive approach).
3 derived by inference; not expressed (constructive permission).
4 belonging to the structure of a building.
1 a of construction; tending to construct. b tending to form a basis for ideas (constructive criticism).
2 helpful, positive (a constructive approach).
3 derived by inference; not expressed (constructive permission).
4 belonging to the structure of a building.
Derivative
constructively adv. constructiveness n.
Etymology
LL constructivus (as construct)
THESAURUS
constructive
advantageous, aidful, beneficial, causative, conducive, construable, constructional, contributory, creative, deduced, definitional, demiurgic, derived, descriptive, diagnostic, exegetic, formative, furthersome, generative, good for, helpful, hermeneutic, implicit, inferential, inferred, interpretable, interpretational, interpretive, inventive, originative, positive, practicable, practical, productive, profitable, ratiocinative, remedial, renderable, salutary, semeiological, serviceable, symptomatological, therapeutic, tropological, useful, virtualROGET THESAURUS
constructive
Implication
N latency, implication, latency, inexpression, hidden meaning, occult meaning, occultness, mystery, cabala, anagoge, silence, concealment, more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear, Delphic oracle, le dessous des cartes, undercurrent, implication, logical implication, logical consequence, entailment, allusion, insinuation, innuendo, adumbration, something rotten in the state of Denmark, snake in the grass, secret, darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility, latent, lurking, secret, occult, implied, dormant, abeyant, unapparent, unknown, unseen, in the background, invisible, indiscoverable, dark, impenetrable, unspied, unsuspected, unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed, untalked of, untold &c, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed, undisclosed, unexpressed, not expressed, tacit, undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced, undiscovered, untracked, unexplored, uninvented, indirect, crooked, inferential, by inference, by implication, implicit, constructive, allusive, covert, muffled, steganographic, understood, underhand, underground, delitescent, concealed, by a side wind, sub silentio, in the background, behind the scenes, behind one's back, on the tip of one's tongue, secretly, between the lines, thereby hangs a tale, tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus, where there's smoke, there's fire.For further exploring for "constructive" in Webster Dictionary Online
