ad. F. -atif, -ative, L. -ātīvus, consisting of adj. suffix -īvus (see -IVE) appended to ppl. stems in -āt- of vbs. in -āre, e.g., dēmonstrāre to point out, dēmonstrāt-īvus ‘having the attribute or habit of pointing out, tending to point out.’ Only a few were used in Latin, but the analogy is extensively followed in the modern languages. In the majority of instances, as in demonstrate, demonstrative, adjs. in -ative belong to vbs. in -ate; cases like represent, -ative, affirm, -ative, figure, figurative, in which the Eng. vb. represents (through Fr.) the present stem of the Latin, have afforded a formal analogy for talk, talk-ative.
