Suggestive

How to spell suggestive

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce suggestive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does suggestive mean?

1. adjectiveTending to bring an idea, memory, or association into the mind.
2. adjectiveHinting at something indecent or sexually improper.

Suggestive in a sentence

• The faded photograph was suggestive of a quieter era.

• The comedian was warned to cut the suggestive jokes before the family show.

• The report offered suggestive evidence that sales were slowing.

• The magazine cover was considered too suggestive for the supermarket shelf.

Where does suggestive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb suggerere, which literally meant 'to carry or bring up from below', combining sub 'under, from beneath' with gerere 'to carry or bring'. The original picture was of laying something underneath or heaping it up, and from there the sense broadened to 'to supply, to furnish, to prompt'. English took the verb suggest in the sixteenth century, and the adjective suggestive followed, describing anything that brings an idea up into the mind. Over time a second, narrower sense developed, where 'suggestive' politely hinted at something indecent or risque, again because it quietly prompts an unspoken thought. The spelling trap lives in the doubled g, an echo of that sub- prefix assimilating to the g of gerere, the same doubling you see in the parent word suggest.

How the word is built

• sug- (variant of sub-, from below)
• gest (from Latin gerere, to carry or bring)
• -ive (adjective suffix)