I. -ptiv, -tēv also -təv adjective
Etymology: erupt ion + -ive
1.
a. : erupting or tending to erupt : bursting forth : breaking out
describes a geyser as an intermittently eruptive hot spring
the eruptive imagery of the poem
: having the character of an eruption
a brawl was the first eruptive result of the rising hostility
b. : characterized by eruption
the eruptive stage of smallpox
eruptive letters full of outbursts of anger or joking
2. : producing eruption
an eruptive fever
3. : produced by eruption — usually used of intrusive rocks (as granite, diorite, gabbro) or extrusive rocks (as rhyolite, andesite, basalt)
• erup·tive·ly -tə̇vlē, -li adverb
• erup·tive·ness -tivnə̇s, -tēv- also -təv- noun -es
II. noun
( -s )
: an igneous rock