English Reference
Adjective

receptive

adj.
C1 Advanced US /ɹiˈsɛptɪv/ UK /ɹɪsˈɛptɪv/ re·cep·tive Botany Psychology Zoology

adj.willing to listen to or accept new ideas and suggestions. You use this to describe someone who is open-minded and ready to learn.

adj.willing to consider or accept new suggestions and ideas. Often used predicatively after linking verbs like 'be', 'seem', or 'become'.


SIMPLE

The manager is very receptive to my new ideas.

CONTEXTUAL

The audience was surprisingly receptive to the speaker's controversial proposal for urban reform.

COMPLEX

A successful diplomat must remain receptive to the subtle shifts in their counterpart's position during a negotiation.

Usage

Typically takes the preposition 'to' when followed by an object. Often follows a linking verb.

Pitfall
receptive for the ideareceptive to the idea

The adjective receptive collocations with the preposition 'to', not 'for'.

He has found a more receptive audience elsewhere.

The Guardian· 18 Aug 2026

Even a temporary loosening of those patterns might make patients more receptive to recovery.

Smithsonian Magazine· 11 Aug 2026

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’). Receptus is the perfect passive participle of recipiō (“to regain possession, take back; to recapture; to receive; to accept, undertake”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards; again’) + capiō (“to capture, catch, take; to take hold, take possession; to take on; to contain, hold; to occupy; to possess; to receive, take in; to comprehend, understand; to captivate, charm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)).

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

This entry
Origin ine-pro *kap-<id:seize>
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Frequent
Updated