Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SPORTIVE
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pronounce
SPORTIVE:
Say it "SPOR div."
Or, if you like to sound precise, "SPOR tiv."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
To have fun, to play around, to goof off, to cav__t, to sk_l__k: that's being sportive.
Can you recall those last two verbs? They mean "to play around in a boisterous way."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
One meaning of "sport" that's a little old-fashioned, but still in use today, is "good fun, playfulness, entertainment," as in "Water parks are great, but spraying a hose at your kid is also perfectly good sport."
So, sportive things are playful and lighthearted. They might be goofy, merry, witty, frisky, teasing, and/or mischievous.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "He's in a sportive mood." "We enjoyed the sportive spirit of that class."
Other forms:
"Sportively" and "sportiveness."
how to use it:
Pick the semi-common word "sportive" when you want to emphasize how fun, good-natured, or wholesome someone's mischief or playfulness is.
You might talk about sportive people, moods, tones, conversations, scenes, relationships, etc.
examples:
"On his show, [Stephen Colbert] satirized the news of the day and newsmakers themselves. Each show ended with sportive interviews with famous writers, musicians, actors and, most recently, President Obama."
— Staff, Time, 17 December 2014
"[Emily Nussbaum's] essays are at once brainy and so well written that I found myself stopping not only to ponder the ideas but to savor her prose. She writes like an angel infected with the sportive spirit of a mischievous imp."
— Peter Biskind, L. A. Times, 28 August 2019
has this page helped you understand "sportive"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "sportive" without saying "playful" or "lighthearted."
try it out:
Talk about a book, a show, or a movie that takes itself seriously, but still has sportive bits: bits that break up the seriousness with lightness or laughter.
For example, on his show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver tackles serious subjects--like how companies are defrauding the public about their carbon offsets--but adds in sportive bits: crass jokes, often at his own expense.
Here's another example, about Game of Thrones:
"The show-within-a-show scenes were sportive, in a way Game of Thrones, for all its pageantry, has rarely been. They played unashamedly to the cheap seats, puncturing the show's frequent self-seriousness."
— James Poniewozik, New York Times, 27 June 2016
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for September is Solve the Square!
It's inspired by Squareword, which is like Wordle but in 3D. In each issue this month, find the 5-letter word that completes the square, creating words both horizontally and vertically. For a bonus point, define the word you've supplied. For the answers, scroll all the way down. Enjoy!
Try this one today:
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review this word:
1.
The opposite of SPORTIVE is
A. LAZY.
B. SOLEMN.
C. HYPERSENSITIVE.
2.
The "sportive lemur," named in 1894 by Henry Ogg Forbes, must have been notably _____.
A. cute
B. playful
C. aggressive
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
One meaning of "sport" that's a little old-fashioned, but still in use today, is "good fun, playfulness, entertainment," as in "Water parks are great, but spraying a hose at your kid is also perfectly good sport."
Part of speech:
Pick the semi-common word "sportive" when you want to emphasize how fun, good-natured, or wholesome someone's mischief or playfulness is.
"On his show, [Stephen Colbert] satirized the news of the day and newsmakers themselves. Each show ended with sportive interviews with famous writers, musicians, actors and, most recently, President Obama."
Explain the meaning of "sportive" without saying "playful" or "lighthearted."
Talk about a book, a show, or a movie that takes itself seriously, but still has sportive bits: bits that break up the seriousness with lightness or laughter.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |