receptiveadj.
/rᵻˈsɛptɪv/, U.S. /rəˈsɛptɪv/, /riˈsɛptɪv/ 1. Having the quality of or capacity for receiving; able or inclined to receive (esp. with regard to ideas, suggestions, etc.).
a. With prepositional complement.
(a) With of.
ΚΠ
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 18v Longaon or þe riȝt entrele..is receptyue [?c1425 Paris resceyuer; L. receptorium] of superfluiteez of þe first digestion.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 191 Neither is man receptive of any thing before life and rationalitie.
1641 S. Marshall et al. Answer Hvmble Remonstr. (1653) xviii. 74 A heaven that hath a broad way leading thither, and is receptive of Drunkards.
a1684 R. Leighton Pract. Comm. 1st Epistle St. Peter (1694) 148 Every one that enquires a reason or an account, which supposes something receptive of it, we ought to judge our selves engaged to give it.
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick ii. i. 238 The Heart of Man became receptive of Wickedness.
1744 Philos. Trans. 1740–41 (Royal Soc.) 41 666 Water is receptive of electricity.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 291 I should wish the citizens to be as receptive of virtue as possible.
1918 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 81 529 Rural children..respond much less readily to mere bookish classroom teaching, whilst being extremely receptive of concrete visible presentments.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 21 The need for my mother..made me warmly responsive to physical tenderness and eagerly receptive of words, gestures, circumstances which created an ambience of security.
2004 C. C. Soludo & O. Ogbu in C. C. Soludo et al. Politics of Trade iv. 118 Policy makers will be more receptive of policy advice that emanates from institutions whose values are similar to those in government.
(b) With to or towards.
ΚΠ
1845 Documents House of Representatives Mass. 127 His object was to mollify and subdue the hearts of the people, to make them yielding and receptive to the new influences which he wished to exert upon them.
1854 ‘G. Eliot’ in Westm. Rev. Oct. 467 The absence of originality made her [sc. Mme de Sable] all the more receptive towards the originality of others.
1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience iv. App. 126 I grew broadly tolerant and receptive toward the views of others.
1930 G. W. Knight Wheel of Fire 160 As we let ourselves be receptive to the impact of all these suggestions we shall be strongly aware of the essential fearsomeness of this universe.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 21 Oct. ii. 3/4 The studio felt audiences would be less receptive to Garbo's accented English.
b. Without prepositional complement.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > [adjective] > having quality of letting in
receptative1509
receptive1547
receiving1559
intromissive1808
the mind > possession > acquisition > receiving > [adjective] > able or disposed to receive or accept
receptive1547
acceptive1598
acceptant1846
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > introduction or bringing in > [adjective] > capable of receiving
receivablea1382
receptive1547
receptible1616
society > law > legislation > [adjective] > legislating > able to admit new laws
receptive1656
the world > action or operation > operation upon something > [adjective] > involving subjection to action or influence > able or liable to be affected
subjectablea1382
subject1549
occurrent1566
obnoxious1572
prostitute1591
liable1593
incident1603
patible1603
susceptible1605
obvious1609
recipient1610
affectable1611
susceptive1637
receptivea1676
ticklish1681
subjectiblea1732
vacant1751
timid1764
susceptible1883
impressionable1889
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > [adjective]
understandablea1382
understandinga1382
intellectivea1475
witted1528
receivable1548
intellectible1557
intelligenced1596
recipient1610
intelligential1646
susceptible1646
apprehending1656
open1672
intellected1791
receptive1817
the world > life > biology > biological processes > stimulation > [adjective] > receptive to stimulus
arousable1890
exteroceptive1906
receptive1906
1547 A. Borde Breuiary of Helthe i. Proheme f. iiiiv Chierurgions must knowe..what sygnes..be receptyue [printed recentyue], what signes be expulcyue.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. x. 79 The soule..shall, as it is receptiue, be..perfected with those supernaturall passions of ioye peace & delight.
1656 J. Bramhall Replic. to Bishop of Chalcedon iv. 160 That receptive Power..to admit or not admit such new Laws.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. iii. 89 The Earth and Sun..; the one active, piercing,..the other passive, receptive.
1757 E. Perronet Mitre (new ed.) iii. cclxxii. 195 Sigh deep—but sigh to him whose ear Receptive feels thy pain!
1793 Times 7 Sept. 1/4 (advt.) He hoped to provide for his family by..the exertion of his talents in the receptive line. He..has taken pupils into his house to board, children of the town and vicinity to teach by day, [etc.].
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria I. v. 95 The passive sense, or what the school-men call the merely receptive.
1875 W. D. Whitney Life & Growth Lang. ii. 30 The passive receptive work of the mind.
1906 C. S. Sherrington Integrative Action Nerv. Syst. iii. 90 The flexion-reflex has a ‘receptive skin-field’ which though extensive is characteristic for it.
1975 M. Samuels & N. Samuels Seeing with Mind's Eye xi. 152 Receptive visualization provides us with the means for getting in touch with images from our inner center.
2006 Giving Feedback 16 Establish a receptive work environment. As a manager, you establish the tone, the feel, and even the culture for working in your group.
2. Medicine and Psychology. Of, relating to, or affecting the comprehension of language (spoken or written), esp. as differentiated from the its expression.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > impairment of mental powers > dyslexia, aphasia, etc.
aphasic1867
agraphic1869
aphemic1869
receptive1889
aphasiac1892
dyslexic1897
paralexic1900
anomic1904
dyslectic1936
anomic1947
1889 Brain 12 247 In addition to the involvement of the auditory centres there was probably here also a fracture between the receptive and emissive speech regions.
1926 H. Head Aphasia I. ii. iii. 204 Closer observation showed that the ‘receptive’ aspect of her use of language had not in reality escaped.
1961 W. R. Brain Speech Disorders vii. 93 Central aphasia is characterized by both receptive and expressive disturbance.
1977 W. H. Perkins Speech Pathol. (rev. ed.) xv. 341 The North-western Syntax Screening Test..of receptive and expressive grammatical ability has become available.
2005 New Yorker 31 Oct. 47/1 A broad distinction is usually made between expressive aphasias and receptive aphasias.
3.
a. Botany. Of a female flower or floral organ: sexually mature; fertile.
ΚΠ
1889 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 16 50 The pistils in the hermaphrodites are evidently as perfect as those in the female, and as they are receptive only after their own pollen is shed they have the same chance to have pollen from neighbouring flowers..as the female has.
1952 P. Mann Systematics Flowering Plants ii. 63 As the stigmas remain receptive self-pollination may then take place if cross-pollination has failed.
1992 M. Ingrouille Diversity & Evol. Land Plants 146 Either the stamens mature first (protandry) or the stigmas are receptive before pollen is released (protogyny).
b. Zoology. Of a female animal, esp. a mammal: willing to mate; in oestrus.
ΚΠ
1922 Amer. Naturalist 56 353 Sometimes..he [sc. the male guinea pig] will mistakenly pursue the one that is not in heat..only to wheel suddenly and mount the receptive female.
1941 Endocrinology 29 411 Two males exhibited lordosis and hopping behavior typical of the sexually-receptive female [rat].
2005 Jrnl. Wildlife Managem. 69 1599/1 Polar bears inhabiting Baffin Bay..show an average parturition rate close to 100% for receptive females.
Compounds
receptive field n. Physiology the area which when stimulated elicits a particular response, such as a reflex, the firing of a sensory neuron, or the activation of a ganglion cell.
ΚΠ
1905 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 76 286 The individual afferent nerve-fibres from the receptive-field of the reflex each divide in the spinal cord into end branches.
1964 Vision Res. 4 49 Light falling on the periphery of the receptive field had an influence on the ganglion cell opposed to that produced by light falling at its centre.
1994 N.Y. Times 10 May c10/3 The neurons that perform these mapping functions have what are called receptive fields—a limited part of space to which they react.
receptive language n. Psychology language, as received and comprehended rather than as expressed in speech or writing; the ability to comprehend language.
ΚΠ
1926 J. R. Kantor Princ. Psychol. II. xxiii. 223 Among the (1) transmissive responses we may name for illustrative purposes, speaking, writing, making signs, gestures, etc., while among the (2) receptive language reactions we include hearing, touching, and seeing responses of all sorts.
1960 Monogr. Soc. Res. Child Devel. 25 11 Receptive language, involving the comprehension of the language of others, appears usually from eight or nine months.
2004 J. E. Moore Transportation 53 The E-games help develop receptive language as students listen to simple directions and commands and then demonstrate comprehension by making choices on the computer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > the scientific measurement of volume > measure(s) of capacity > [noun]
bodge1520
oxybaphon1574
receptive measure1669
measure of capacity1866
1669 E. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia 52 Receptive Measures, are two fold; first of Liquid..secondly of Dry things.
1680 R. Morden Geogr. Rectified (1685) 281 Receptive Measures are two-fold. First of liquid or moist things; Secondly of dry things.
1727 W. Mather Young Man's Compan. (ed. 13) 197 Of Receptive Measure, that is, Things Measured inwardly.
1768 T. Smollett Present State All Nations II. 256 There are also receptive measures both for liquids and solids.
receptive spot n. [after German Empfängnissfleck (E. Strasburger 1869, in Jahrb. f. wissensch. Bot. 7 418)] Botany the point at which the male gamete enters the egg cell of an alga or fern (identified as a pale spot).
ΚΠ
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 344 The entrance takes place at a lighter spot of the oosphere facing the neck, which is termed the Receptive Spot.
1927 F. E. Fritsch West's Brit. Freshwater Algae (ed. 2) 46 That part of the ovum nearest the aperture commonly exhibits a colourless cytoplasmic area, the receptive spot.
1994 Cryptogamic Bot. 4 329 As many as three spermatozoids may dock at the receptive spot and rotate vigorously for a while, but only one usually enters the egg cell.
Derivatives
reˈceptively adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > operation upon something > [adverb] > undergoing action
passivelyc1443
receptively1670
sufferingly1682
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > [adverb] > letting in
receptively1670
1670 J. Bryan Dwelling with God To Rdr. sig. A8 It is only the communion of the Three Essential faculties of the Soul with God, the Vital and Executive Power, the Intellect, and Will, partly receptively and partly operatively, which is meant.
1881 W. Spottiswoode in Nature No. 624. 570 We can cause the discharge to be from one terminal only, the other terminal acting merely receptively.
1967 Listener 7 Sept. 298/1 A few serious young people squatting in Yogic postures, spines straight, hands receptively cupped.
2006 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 15 Oct. 17 A sprinkling of pre-teens at one cinema screening sat gamely and apparently receptively through the session.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.?a1425