constructive


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con·struc·tive

 (kən-strŭk′tĭv)
adj.
1. Serving to improve or advance; helpful: constructive criticism.
2. Of or relating to construction; structural.
3. Law Inferred, imputed, or presumed from circumstances: The judge ruled that the tenant was subjected to a constructive eviction because the landlord had turned off all the utilities.

con·struc′tive·ly adv.
con·struc′tive·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

constructive

(kənˈstrʌktɪv)
adj
1. serving to build or improve; positive: constructive criticism.
2. (Law) law deduced by inference or construction; not expressed but inferred
3. (Law) law having a deemed legal effect: constructive notice.
4. another word for structural
conˈstructively adv
conˈstructiveness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

con•struc•tive

(kənˈstrʌk tɪv)

adj.
1. promoting further development or advancement; helping to improve (opposed to destructive): constructive criticism.
2. of, pertaining to, or of the nature of construction; structural.
3. deduced by inference or interpretation.
[1670–80; < Medieval Latin]
con•struc′tive•ly, adv.
con•struc′tive•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.constructive - constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development; "constructive criticism"; "a constructive attitude"; "a constructive philosophy"; "constructive permission"
positive - characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.; "a positive attitude"; "the reviews were all positive"; "a positive benefit"; "a positive demand"
destructive - causing destruction or much damage; "a policy that is destructive to the economy"; "destructive criticism"
2.constructive - emphasizing what is laudable or hopeful or to the good; "constructive criticism"
positive - characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.; "a positive attitude"; "the reviews were all positive"; "a positive benefit"; "a positive demand"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

constructive

adjective helpful, positive, useful, practical, valuable, productive Both men described the talks as frank, friendly and constructive.
negative, useless, destructive, vain, worthless, futile, unproductive, unhelpful
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
بَنّاءمُفِيد
konstruktivní
konstruktiv
rakentava
konstruktivan
konstruktív
uppbyggjandi
建設的な
건설적인
konštruktívny
tvoren
konstruktiv
ที่เกี่ยวกับโครงสร้าง
mang tính xây dựng

constructive

[kənˈstrʌktɪv] ADJconstructivo
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

constructive

[kənˈstrʌktɪv] adj [discussion, comment, criticism] → constructif/ive; [approach] → constructif/ive
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

constructive

adjkonstruktiv; constructive stressEustress m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

constructive

[kənˈstrʌktɪv] adjcostruttivo/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

construct

(kənˈstrakt) verb
to build; to put together. They are planning to construct a new supermarket near our house; Construct a sentence containing `although'.
conˈstruction (-ʃən) noun
1. (a way of) constructing or putting together. The bridge is still under construction.
2. something built. That construction won't last long.
conˈstructive (-tiv) adjective
helpful; having to do with making, not with destroying. Constructive criticism tells you both what is wrong and also what to do about it.
conˈstructively adverb
conˈstructor noun
a person who constructs. a constructor of bridges.
construction site
a building site.
construction worker
a builder.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

constructive

مُفِيد konstruktivní konstruktiv konstruktiv εποικοδομητικός constructivo rakentava constructif konstruktivan costruttivo 建設的な 건설적인 constructief konstruktiv konstruktywny construtivo созидательный konstruktiv ที่เกี่ยวกับโครงสร้าง yapıcı mang tính xây dựng 建设性的
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
References in classic literature ?
The constructive plan of Malicorne -- for we may well suppose that the combinations of a mind as active as his were not confined to the present, but extended to the future -- the constructive plan of Malicorne, we say, was this: -- To obtain entrance into the household of Madame Henrietta for a woman devoted to himself, who was intelligent, young, handsome, and intriguing; to learn, by means of this woman, all the feminine secrets of the young household, whilst he, Malicorne, and his friend Manicamp, should, between them, know all the male secrets of the young community.
For a coloured man to work it out in the South, where, in its constructive period, he was necessarily misunderstood by his own people as well as by the whites, and where he had to adjust it at every step to the strained race relations--that is so very different and more difficult a thing that the man who did it put the country under lasting obligations to him.
The important thing is to construct: I am constructive; I am a poet."
He also becomes more dogmatic and constructive, passing beyond the range either of the political or the speculative ideas of the real Socrates.
This may serve as a specimen of the numerous handles which would be given to the doctrine of constructive powers, by the indulgence of an injudicious zeal for bills of rights.
He stood a while longer, gazing out over the lonely flat and visioning with constructive imagination the scene if the stampede did come.
Selective, Associative, and Constructive. From the unorganized material thus brought clearly to the author's consciousness Imagination next selects the details which can be turned to present use, and proceeds to combine them, uniting scattered traits and incidents, perhaps from widely different sources, into new characters, stories, scenes, and ideas.
Seldom in Adam's life had his face been so free from any cloud of anxiety as it was this morning; and this freedom from care, as is usual with constructive practical minds like his, made him all the more observant of the objects round him and all the more ready to gather suggestions from them towards his own favourite plans and ingenious contrivances.
Now, whatever his motive is, it's necessary to his motive'--Mr Fledgeby's constructive powers were not equal to the avoidance of some tautology here--'that it should be kept from me, what he has done with her.
Whatever constructive guiding intelligence there had been among the nations vanished in the passionate stresses of the time.
Casaubon's studies, Will observed, had always been of too broad a kind for that, and he had perhaps never felt any such sudden effect, but for himself he confessed that Rome had given him quite a new sense of history as a whole: the fragments stimulated his imagination and made him constructive. Then occasionally, but not too often, he appealed to Dorothea, and discussed what she said, as if her sentiment were an item to be considered in the final judgment even of the Madonna di Foligno or the Laocoon.
"I am willing to admit that my turn of mind is critical rather than constructive and that I am not a ready convert to any new theory, especially when it happens to be so unusual and fantastic as this one.

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