| / English Dictionary |
DEMONSTRATIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A pronoun that points out an intended referent
Synonyms:
demonstrative; demonstrative pronoun
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("demonstrative" is a kind of...):
pronoun (a function word that is used in place of a noun or noun phrase)
Derivation:
demonstrative (serving to demonstrate)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Given to or marked by the open expression of emotion
Example:
an affectionate and demonstrative family
Classified under:
Similar:
effusive; gushing; gushy (extravagantly demonstrative)
epideictic; epideictical (designed primarily for rhetorical display)
Also:
unreserved (not cautious or reticent)
Antonym:
undemonstrative (not given to open expression of emotion)
Derivation:
demonstrativeness (tending to express your feelings freely)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Serving to demonstrate
Synonyms:
demonstrative; illustrative
Classified under:
Similar:
informative; instructive (serving to instruct or enlighten or inform)
Derivation:
demonstrate (establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment)
demonstrate (provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes)
demonstrative (a pronoun that points out an intended referent)
Context examples:
Still he was not demonstrative.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
I found Uriah reading a great fat book, with such demonstrative attention, that his lank forefinger followed up every line as he read, and made clammy tracks along the page (or so I fully believed) like a snail.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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