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Added 9 October 2026

receptive

/ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/ adjective

In Latin: susceptīvus Wiktionary

adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about receptive at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Open to arguments, ideas, or change.
receptive to reason and the logic of facts
Ready or willing to receive favorably.
receptive to the proposals
Of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing toward the central nervous system.
sensory neurons

Origin

From Late Middle English receptive, receptyue (“capable of receiving something; acting as a receptacle”), borrowed from Medieval Latin receptivus (“capable of receiving something”), from Latin receptus (“retaken, having been retaken; received, having been received”) + -īvus (suffix added to the perfect passive participial stems of verbs, forming a deverbal adjective meaning ‘doing; related to doing’).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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