English Reference
Adjective

affective

adj.
C1 Advanced US /əˈfɛktɪv/ UK /ɐfˈɛktɪv/ af·fec·tive

adj.relating to your feelings, emotions, or how you connect with other people. It describes things that influence your mood or how you feel about something.

adj.relating to the emotional or psychological aspects of a person or process. Often used in psychology to describe the internal experience of feelings, or in linguistics to describe the grammatical category of mood.


SIMPLE

The teacher noticed the student's affective needs during the lesson.

CONTEXTUAL

The new curriculum includes affective learning strategies to help students manage their stress and build confidence.

COMPLEX

While cognitive development is often the primary focus of early education, affective growth is equally vital for a child's ability to form healthy social bonds and regulate their own emotional responses.

During the 20th century, standardized tests came into vogue in higher education, as a way to “measure the academic, affective, and physical conditions brought to the ivy halls by entry-level freshmen.

The Conversation· 23 Jul 2026

From Medieval Latin affectivus, from Latin affectus, past participle of afficere (“to affect”). By surface analysis, affect + -ive.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin affectus
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Occasional
Updated