1. formative - Noun
2. formative - Adjective
3. formative - Adjective Satellite
Giving form; having the power of giving form; plastic; as, the formative arts.
Serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a termination merely formative.
Capable of growth and development; germinal; as, living or formative matter.
That which serves merely to give form, and is no part of the radical, as the prefix or the termination of a word.
A word formed in accordance with some rule or usage, as from a root.
Source: Webster's dictionaryPortugal was born in the shadow of the Catholic Church and religion, from the beginning it was the formative element of the soul of the nation and the dominant trait of character of the Portuguese people. António de Oliveira Salazar
Since there is no such thing as absolute rightness and truth, we always pursue the artificial, leading, human truth. We judge and make a truth that excludes other truths. Art plays a formative part in this manufacture of truth. Gerhard Richter
O mighty and once living instrument of formative nature. Incapable of availing thyself of thy vast strength thou hast to abandon a life of stillness and to obey the law which God and time gave to procreative nature. Leonardo da Vinci
The combination of Federalism and Republicanism which formed the substance of the system, did not constitute a progressive and formative political principle, but it pointed in the direction of a constructive formula. Herbert Croly
In a crystal we have the clear evidence of the existence of a formative life-principle, and though we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is none the less a living being. Nikola Tesla
In the course of describing my formative moment in 1978, I have already implicitly given my four basic rules for research. Let me now state them explicitly, then explain. Here are the rules:1. Listen to the Gentiles 2. Question the question 3. Dare to be silly 4. Simplify, simplify. Paul Krugman