adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A demonstrative word; A demonstrative adjective.
2. 2
   a pronoun that points out an intended referent wordnet
3. 3
   A demonstrative word; A demonstrative pronoun.

Adjective

1. 1
   That serves to demonstrate, show or prove.

   "an argument necessary and demonstrative"

2. 2
   Given to open displays of emotion.

   "demonstrative eloquence"

3. 3
   That specifies the thing or person referred to.

Adjective

1. 1
   given to or marked by the open expression of emotion wordnet
2. 2
   serving to demonstrate wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

effusiveillustrativeaccessibleadoringaffectionalaffectionate

Antonyms

All antonyms

undemonstrative

Example

More examples

"There are too many demonstrative pronouns. To put it bluntly, it couldn't be harder to understand."

Etymology

From Middle English demonstratif, from Middle French démonstratif, from Latin dēmōnstrātīvus. Equivalent to demonstrate + -ive.

Related phrases

demonstrative adjectivedemonstrative determinerdemonstrative legacydemonstrative pronounpronoun demonstrativedemonstrative adjectivedemonstrative pronoun

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.