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appreciative

UK/əˈpɹi.ʃətɪv/US/əˈpɹi.ʃətɪv/
adjectiveB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,052 of 15,258neutral

Appreciative means showing that you value something. A murmur, a nod, a letter written the next day.

It takes of: appreciative of the effort, appreciative of the help. The word describes the showing rather than the feeling, which is what separates it from grateful, since somebody can be grateful in silence but appreciative only visibly. An appreciative audience is one that responds warmly, and an appreciative glance is a compliment paid without words. The verb appreciate also means to rise in value, which is a quite separate financial sense.

Definitions of appreciative

  1. 1adjectiveappreciativeShowing that you recognise the value of something.B2+

    “There was an appreciative murmur from the back.”

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *per-

  2. Latin

    appretiātus — appraised

  3. Medieval Latin

    appreciātus — valued or appraised

  4. English

    appreciate

  5. English, today

    appreciative

From appreciate + -ive. appreciate Originated 1645–55; from Medieval Latin appreciātus (“valued or appraised”), later variant of Latin appretiātus (“appraised”), the perfect passive participle of appretiō (see -ate), from a(d) + preti(um) + -ō. Cognate to French apprécier. Latin root also origin of English a doublet of appraise, which has various Romance cognates; see also precious.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Word Building

First appears in chapter 13 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

appreciative in the wild

  • Though the film failed to garner much of an audience during its theatrical run in India, critics were appreciative and considered as a Cult film over the years.

    Maqbool

  • Notable organizations and personalities have been appreciative of TISS's social service work including Eleanor Roosevelt, Jawaharlal Nehru, Niels Bohr and the United Nations, among others.

    Tata Institute of Social Sciences

  • M3 is primarily a studio recording and experimental project, although it has been known to play live to appreciative audiences.

    M3 (band)

  • I'm trying to be in touch with and appreciative of... this day - the way the sky looked last night - extraordinary!...

    Dark to Themselves

  • While being appreciative of the film's technical aspects, film critics were divided in their opinion of the film itself.

    Heli (film)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the appreciātus family

appreciate

appreciative — used about once every 4,196 pages · #9,052 · point at the bar for the others

  • appreciation