tentative

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin tentātīvus (“trying, testing”), from tentō, past participle tentātus (“to try, test”); see tent, tempt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛntətɪv/
• (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛntəʔɪf/, /ˈtɛntəhɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ten‧ta‧tive

Noun

tentative (plural tentatives)

1. A trial; an experiment; an attempt.
2. (Malaysia) A schedule for an event or a programme.

Adjective

tentative (comparative more tentative, superlative most tentative)

1. Of or pertaining to a trial or trials; essaying; experimental.
2. Uncertain; subject to future change.
   • 2009 May 3, Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott, “Memos to Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎:

     Meanwhile, a bunch of hungry directors with digital cameras, time on their hands and not much money are making free-form studies about tentative hookups and long conversations among actual, overeducated, undermotivated young folks.

   • 2025 June 25, Rachel Hagan, “Trump pushes back after leaked report suggests Iran strikes had limited impact”, in BBC News‎:

     Hegseth's reference to the report being "low confidence" suggest it is tentative and its findings may change as more detail emerges.

3. Restrained; polite; feeling one's way, not using full force.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “subject to future change”): conclusive, definitive, certain

Derived terms

• tentatively
• tentativeness
• tentative wound

Translations

of or pertaining to a trial or trials; essaying; experimental

Armenian: փորձնական (hy) (pʻorjnakan), փորձարարական (hy) (pʻorjararakan) Bulgarian: пробен (bg) (proben), експериментален (bg) (eksperimentalen) Czech: pokusný, zkušební (cs) Estonian: katseline, esialgne Finnish: alustava (fi), kokeellinen (fi) Galician: experimental (gl) German: vorläufig (de), Versuchs- (de), experimentell (de), provisorisch (de), probierend (de), Probe- (de) f, Vor- (de) Hungarian: kísérleti (hu), próba- (hu) Indonesian: tentatif (id) Korean: 잠정적 (ko) (jamjeongjeok) Norwegian: forsøksvis, tentativ (no) Polish: prowizoryczny (pl) Portuguese: experimental (pt) Russian: эксперимента́льный (ru) (eksperimentálʹnyj), про́бный (ru) (próbnyj), о́пытный (ru) (ópytnyj) Serbo-Croatian: provizorni (sh), pokusni (sh), tentativni, probni (sh) Slovene: poskusen, provizoričen Spanish: tentativo (es), provisional (es), experimental, de tanteo (es) Swedish: preliminär (sv), försöks- (sv) Turkish: deneme (tr), deneme kabilinden, deneme niteliğinde, tecrübe (tr)

uncertain

Bulgarian: несигурен (bg) (nesiguren) Czech: předběžný (cs), nejistý, provizorní (cs) Estonian: ebalev, kõhklev Finnish: alustava (fi), epävarma (fi), epäröivä (fi) French: provisoire (fr), approximatif (fr) Galician: provisorio, provisional (gl), preliminar German: vorläufig (de), provisorisch (de), unverbindlich (de), tentativ (de) (exalted) Hungarian: tétova (hu), bátortalan (hu), bizonytalan (hu), habozó (hu), óvatos (hu) Indonesian: tentatif (id) Norwegian: foreløpig (no), tentativ (no) Polish: prowizoryczny (pl) m, niepewny (pl) m Portuguese: provisório (pt) Russian: предположи́тельный (ru) (predpoložítelʹnyj), предвари́тельный (ru) (predvarítelʹnyj), предполага́емый (ru) (predpolagájemyj), ориентиро́вочный (ru) (orijentiróvočnyj), вре́менный (ru) (vrémennyj), приме́рный (ru) (primérnyj), прики́дочный (ru) (prikídočnyj) Spanish: provisional (es), provisorio (es), preliminar (es), indeciso (es), tentativo (es) Swedish: preliminär (sv)

restrained

German: zurückhaltend (de), zaghaft (de), zögernd (de), zögerlich (de), tastend (de), vorfühlend (de) Hungarian: puhatolózó (hu), tapogatózó (hu)

Further reading

• “tentative”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “tentative”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• attentive

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin tentātīva, from tentō (“to attempt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.ta.tiv/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

tentative f (plural tentatives)

1. attempt, try, effort (particularly of something difficult or risky)
   1. general senses

      Synonym: essai

      faire une tentative de quelque chose ― to make an attempt at something

      faire une tentative pour faire quelque chose ― make an attempt to do something

      la première tentative avortée ― the first aborted attempt

      une deuxième tentative infructueuse ― a second unsuccessful attempt

      résoudre de faire une dernière tentative ― resolve to make one last attempt

      des longues années de tentatives échouées ― long years of failed attempts

   2. (law) an attempted infraction of law

      tentative de viol ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

      tentative d'enlèvement ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

      commettre une tentative d'homicide ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

      accusé de la tentative d'assassinat d'un homme politique ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

      L'homme en question est suspecté de la tentative de meurtre sur sa femme. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Related terms

• tenter

References

• “tentative”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

tentative

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