Dictionary

impactive en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English impact Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English impactive From impact + -ive.

Meanings

1. Of, pertaining to, possessing, or caused by impact.
   • Along with this revolution has come another, quieter and more subtle, but perhaps more impactive and ultimately more dynamic in its potential for change. 1970, Kent Kirby, “Art, Technology and the Liberal Arts College”, in Art Journal, volume 29, number 3, page 330:
   • And in what may prove to be the most impactive development, the university is nurturing the nexus of science and business to create a biotechnology sector that has already brought millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs into town. 2001 February 18, Elissa Gootman, “An Intricate Bond; New Haven's past and future are so tied to Yale, but it took 300 years for the two to get along”, in New York Times:
   • As Rosemary came onto the beach a boy of twelve ran past her and dashed into the sea with exultant cries. Feeling the impactive scrutiny of strange faces, she took off her bathrobe and followed. 1934, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter II, in Malcolm Cowley, editor, Tender is the Night […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1951, →OCLC, book II (Rosemary’s Angle: 1919–1925), pages 59–60:
   • It is necessary to distinguish all forces sharply into two groups: 1, the attractional (gravity, adhesion, cohesion, chemism), and 2, the impactive or momentum forces of masses, molecules and atoms. 1880, W. S. Barnard, “Protoplasmic Dynamics”, in The American Naturalist, volume 14, number 4, page 237:

Forms

Deriveds

nonimpactive