tentative

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin tentātīvus (“trying, testing”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from tentātus, the past participle of Latin tentō (“to feel, try”),^[3][5][4] a variant of temptō (“to handle, try, test”),^[2][5][7] with the suffix -īvus.^[8][9] Scholastic Latin also used tentātīva as a noun, and French has the noun tentative (“examination, attempt”) from the 16th century.^[2] For the Latin verb, Etymonline cites de Vaan's reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *tempto-, perhaps from a root meaning "to stretch".^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of an experiment or trial; done provisionally: 1588, in J. Harvey's Discoursive Probleme concerning Prophesies.^[2] Barnhart finds the date implied in the adverb tentatively,^[10] and Hoad dates the adverb to the 16th century and the adjective to the 17th;^[6] Merriam-Webster's first date is 1626.^[9][11]

Semantic evolution

The word began in learned use, close to the Latin "trying, testing": Johnson (1755) defined it as "trying; essaying", quoting Berkeley's "This is not scientifical but tentative."^[12] From "made as a trial" it came to mean "provisional, not yet settled", as of plans or agreements,^[13][11][14] and, of people and their actions, "hesitant, uncertain".^{[15][13][11][14]} As a noun, an experiment or attempt, it is recorded from 1632,^[2][9] after the French noun.^[2]

Timeline

• 1588 – adjective, experimental, done as a trial.^[2][10]
• 1626 – first date in Merriam-Webster.^[9]
• 1632 – noun, an experiment or attempt.^[2][9]
• 1755 – Johnson: trying, essaying.^[12]
• 1865 – noun, trying, experimentation.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not yet fully worked out or agreed; provisional or experimental: We made tentative plans to meet in June.^{[13][11][14][9]}
2. Hesitant or uncertain: She gave a tentative wave from the doorway.^[13][11][14]

Noun

1. An experiment, trial or attempt.^[9][2]

Word family

• tentatively
• tentativeness
• pretentative

Related words

• tempt

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press