expressive

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French expressif (“that forces or presses out”),^[2][3][4] recorded from about 1365,^[2] and perhaps also borrowed from Medieval Latin expressīvus (“serving to express, significant”),^[5][4] which the OED gives as the source of the French word.^[2] The Latin adjective is formed from the past participial stem of exprimō (“to press out; to represent, describe”) and the suffix -īvus;^[2][3] the verb is formed from ex- and premō (“to press”).^[3][6] It belongs with express and expression.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tending to press out or expel, also of medical dressings: before 1400, in a translation of Lanfranc's Science of Cirurgie; this sense is obsolete.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense "pressing out", the first in both French and English, did not last.^[2][5] It was replaced by senses of expressing: about 1450 the word meant indicative or representative of something, usually with of,^[2] a construction Johnson (1755) also noted.^[7] From 1595 it was used of a word or phrase that conveys its meaning forcefully or vividly, from 1635 of a face or voice that shows feeling, and since before 1616, in Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well, of a person who expresses feelings.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "full of expression" from the 1680s.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1400 – tending to press out or expel (obsolete).^[2]
• c. 1450 – indicative or representative of something.^[2]
• 1595 – of a word or phrase, conveying its meaning forcefully.^[2]
• before 1616 – of a person, showing feelings.^[2]
• 1635 – of the face or voice, conveying feeling.^[2]
• 1680s – full of expression.^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as having the power of utterance or representation.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to expression: the expressive powers of music.^[6][8][9]
2. Showing or suggesting a thought or feeling; usually with of: a gesture expressive of contempt.^[6][8][9][2]
3. Conveying meaning or feeling vividly or effectively: an expressive face.^[6][9][2]

Word family

• expressively
• expressiveness
• antiexpressive
• nonexpressive
• superexpressive

Related words

• expressivity
• express
• expression
• press
• impressive

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins