† oˈpinative, a. (n.) Obs.
Also 6 -itive, -ytyve.
[ad. late and med.L. opīnātīv-us (Priscian 6th c.), f. L. opīnāt-, ppl. stem: see -ive. Perh. immed. a. obs. F. opinatif, -ive (Oresme 14th c.); cf. It. opinativo (Florio 1598).]
1. Stiff in opinion; adhering obstinately to one's own opinion; opinionative.
| 1530 Tindale Answ. More iii. xiii. Wks. (Parker Soc.) III. 159 They rail on him..and call him opinative, self-minded, and obstinate. 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds v. (1877) 58 The Frenchemen..be opynatyfe, thynkyng Fraunce to be of more greater valure than any other realme. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. vii, Speake truth. Be not opinatiue, maintaine no factions. 1660 tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. iii. iv. 372 There is no Jew so opinative, as to account them proper for the government of all sorts of Nations in all Ages. |
2. Of or belonging to opinion; of the nature of, or expressing, opinion; conjectural, not certain.
| 1588 J. Harvey Disc. Probl. 16 A probable surmize, and opinitiue collection. 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. Pref. 25 The coniecturall and opinative ghesses of some. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God v. xix. (1620) 214 He that contemneth their opinative praise contemneth also with it their vnaduised suspect. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 162/1 All this part of things, they called Opinative: Science they affirmed to be no where but in the Reasons and Notions of Mind. 1816–30 Bentham Offic. Apt. Maximized, Extract Const. Code (1830) 6 Judicially augmented will natural honour be by two conjunct and correspondent appropriate judicial decrees; the first opinative, the other imperative. 1829 ― Justice & Cod. Petit. 181 Opinative [functions], exercised by declaration made of opinion. |
B. n. An opinionated person.
| 1639 Drummond of Hawthornden Speech of Author's Wks. (1711) 219 Such men..prove themselves to be altogether seditious and factious, malicious opinatives. |