Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Informative \In*form"a*tive\, a.
Having power to inform, animate, or vivify.
--Dr. H. More.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"instructive," late 14c., "formative, shaping, plastic," from Medieval Latin informativus, from Latin informatus, past participle of informare (see inform). Related: Informatively.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Providing information; ''especially'', providing useful or interesting information. 2 (context in standards and specifications English) Not specifying requirements, but merely providing information.
WordNet
adj. tending to increase knowledge or dissipate ignorance; "an enlightening glimpse of government in action" [syn: enlightening, instructive] [ant: unenlightening]
serving to instruct of enlighten or inform [syn: instructive] [ant: uninstructive]
providing or conveying information [syn: informatory] [ant: uninformative]
Usage examples of "informative".
My stay among the Deutsche proved most informative, if not always very pleasant.
Those cadavers which have been dissected have not been especially informative, though I am told preliminary examinations suggest that their neuromuscular systemology is unusually dense for a mammalian life-form.
Each one is a certified historical reenactor capable of providing you with hours of informative conversation.
Even if proponents of a religion are reasonably sure that their beliefs are true, and even if they think there are valid and conclusive arguments for their validity, their religious assertions still cannot be taken as informative utterances.
And she did so in a manner that was not only informative but amusing, especially when she recounted funny incidents which had happened to her when she was on promotion tours.
But he gave her his perceptions of it, perhaps more informative than political theory, and Alde listened gravely, her arms wrapped around her drawn-up knees.
The medical attache, in sum, feels tightly wound and badly underappreciated and is prepared in advance to be irritated by the item inside, which is merely a standard black entertainment cartridge, but is wholly unlabelled and not in any sort of colorful or informative or inviting cartridge-case, and has only another of these vapid U.
And if the Saint had anticipated anything, he had anticipated that the arrival of Rayt Marius in the role of an angel-faced harbinger of glad tidings would result in a certain amount of more or less informative backchat before the conversation became centered on prospective funerals.
There were informative (and rather breathless) items about National Library Week, the Summer Reading Program, the Junction County Bookmobile, and the new fund drive which had just commenced.
On this basis, the United States probably has the most secure cryptosystems and the most informative communications intelligence in the world.
Nevertheless, if it has been in the least informative to our Sovereign, or to any extent edifying in its plethora of bizarre minutiae and arcana, we will try to persuade ourself that our patience and forbearance and the drudging labors of our friar scribes have not entirely been a waste.
From then on Felix, who had acquired a tattered copy of the History and Practice of Aerostation, maintained a flow of conversation, largely informative, but interspersed with eager questions.
Did they present to him complex, obscure, and abstruse cases, perhaps something due to an enzyme deficiency isolated only last week, or a rare cranial nerve syndrome first described in l925, he should be informative and invaluable.
She is hypnotized by the surgery or treatment flicks, chewing slowly, nudging me with an informative elbow and a nod when a particularly smooth bit of scissor or saw work is goring its way across the screen.
Charcuterie class was informative and this old style was well suited to learning about galantines and ballottines and socles and pâtés, rillettes, sausage-making and aspic work.