Formative vs Figurative - What's the difference?
formative | figurative |
Of or pertaining to the formation and subsequent growth of something.
Capable of forming something.
(biology) Capable of producing new tissue.
(grammar) Pertaining to the inflection of words.
Metaphorical or tropical, as opposed to literal; using figures; as of the use of "cats and dogs" in the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs".
* '>citation
Metaphorically so called
With many figures of speech
Emblematic; representative
* Hooker
* J. A. Symonds
As adjectives the difference between formative and figurative
is that formative is of or pertaining to the formation and subsequent growth of something while figurative is metaphorical or tropical, as opposed to literal; using figures; as of the use of "cats and dogs" in the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs".As a noun formative
is a language unit that has morphological function.formative
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- My formative years were spent in an inner city.
Derived terms
* formativenessfigurative
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- This, they will say, was figurative , and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity.
- They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form.