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effusive

UK/ɪˈfjuːsɪv/US/ɪˈfjuːsɪv/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,456 of 15,258leans writtenformal · an editor’s judgement

Effusive means showing feeling far more freely than is usual. Thanks, praise or affection, poured out.

The word carries a hint of doubt, since effusive praise is often suspected of being insincere, and British reserve treats any large display of feeling with suspicion. It takes in when a subject is named. The literal root is about pouring out, which is exactly the picture. The adverb effusively usually attaches to thanked or greeted, and the noun effusion means an outpouring, in medicine of fluid and elsewhere of words.

Definitions of effusive

  1. 1adjectiveeffusiveExpressing feeling in an unrestrained way.C2

    “He was effusive in his thanks.”

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ǵʰewd-

  2. Medieval Latin

    effūsīvus

  3. English, today

    effusive

Medieval Latin effūsīvus, 1660s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 29 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

effusive in the wild

  • Typically they are effusive eruptions, with basaltic magmas of low viscosity, low content of gases, and high temperature at the vent.

    Hawaiian eruption

  • An effusive eruption is a type of volcanic eruption in which lava steadily flows out of a volcano onto the ground.

    Effusive eruption

  • The floor of Raditladi is partially covered by relatively light smooth plains, which are thought to be a product of the effusive volcanism.

    Raditladi (crater)

  • Lava deltas are generally associated with large-scale, effusive type basaltic volcanism.

    Lava delta

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.