[ ɪ'məʊtɪv ]
■ adjective arousing intense feeling: animal experimentation is an ~ subject.
Derivatives
~ly adverb
~ness noun
emotivity ˌi:məʊ'tɪvɪti noun
Usage
The words ~ and emotional are not interchangeable. Emotive means ‘arousing intense feeling’, while emotional tends to mean ‘characterized by intense feeling’. Thus an ~ issue is one which is likely to arouse people's passions, while an emotional response is one which is itself full of passion.