generative

See also: générative

English

Etymology

From Middle English generatyve, generatyf, generatif, equivalent to generate +‎ -ive. Compare French génératif.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛnəɹətɪv/, /ˈd͡ʒɛnɹətɪv/, /d͡ʒəˈnɛɹətɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛnəɹətɪv/, [ˈd͡ʒɛnəɹəɾɪv], /ˈd͡ʒɛnɹətɪv/, [ˈd͡ʒɛnɹəɾɪv], /d͡ʒəˈnɛɹətɪv/, [d͡ʒəˈnɛɹəɾɪv]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒenəɹətɪv/, [ˈd͡ʒenəɹəɾɪv]

Adjective

generative (comparative more generative, superlative most generative)

1. Having the power of generating, propagating, originating, or producing.

   Synonym: creative

   Antonym: annihilative

   • 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:

     That generative particle.

   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 127:

     Of course, structures like those associated with (36) and (37) constitute only a tiny subset of the infinite set of well-formed sentence structures found in English. We can increase the Generative Capacity of our grammar ( = the set of structures which it generates) either by expanding the Lexicon on the one hand, or by expanding the Categorial Rules (i.e. Phrase Structure Rules) on the other.

   • 2025 January 30, Tessa Solomon, “AI Art Lacking ‘Human Expression’ Cannot Be Copyrighted, US Officials Say”, in ARTnews‎:

     The document states that despite its ongoing advancements, generative AI is liable to the United States’s current copyright principles, which take a strict stance on what material—human- or machine-made—qualifies for protection.

2. (euphemistic) reproductive
   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page iii:

     Hence the ubiquity of Priapus himself as a sculptural representative of the generative principle, populated the Roman gardens, assertive in ithyphallic pose.

   • 2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 91:

     This ceremony seals the covenant in the flesh of the male generative organ.

Derived terms

• antigenerative
• cogenerative
• generative act
• generative adversarial network
• generative AI
• generative artificial intelligence
• generative grammar
• generative lexicon
• generatively
• generative medicine
• generativeness
• generativism
• generativist
• generativistic
• generativity
• neurogenerative
• nongenerative
• trigenerative
• ungenerative

Related terms

• degenerative

Translations

having the power of generating

Bulgarian: размножителен (razmnožitelen), производителен (bg) (proizvoditelen) Catalan: generatiu Finnish: generatiivinen French: génératif (fr) Georgian: მაწარმოებელი (mac̣armoebeli), წარმომშობი (c̣armomšobi) German: generativ (de) Italian: generativo (it) Norwegian: Nynorsk: generativ Portuguese: generativo Romanian: generativ (ro) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ге̏нератӣван, ства̀ралачки Roman: gȅneratīvan (sh), stvàralački (sh) Spanish: generativo

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

generative

1. inflection of generativ:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒe.ne.raˈti.ve/
• Rhymes: -ive
• Hyphenation: ge‧ne‧ra‧tì‧ve

Adjective

generative

1. feminine plural of generativo

Anagrams

• generatevi