Meaning of constructive in English

constructive

adjective

/kənˈstrʌk.tɪv/ us

/kənˈstrʌk.t̬ɪv/

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If advice, criticism, or actions are constructive, they are useful and intended to help or improve something:

She criticized my writing, but in a way that was very constructive.

If you don't have anything constructive to say, it's better to say nothing.

Opposite

destructive

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

useful

usefulThese useful gadgets should find a home in every kitchen.
helpfulThey gave us some really helpful advice.
valuableHe was able to provide the police with some valuable information.
invaluableThe Internet is an invaluable resource for teachers.
constructiveIt was a very constructive discussion.

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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Useful or advantageous

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Related word

constructively

(Definition of constructive from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

constructive | American Dictionary

constructive

adjective

/kənˈstrʌk·tɪv/

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intended to help someone or improve understanding:

She was my most constructive critic.

(Definition of constructive from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

constructive | Business English

constructive

adjective

/kənˈstrʌktɪv/ us

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useful and likely or intended to improve something:

a constructive dialogue/discussion/meeting

Listening to constructive criticism of certain aspects of your work should help you to make the most of your potential.

constructively

adverb /kənˈstrʌktɪvli/

A business must have the ability to work constructively with government agencies.

(Definition of constructive from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of constructive

constructive

He develops a constructive framework for proving equalities about programs, and shows how to derive the free theorems in a purely syntactic way.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their valuable insights and constructive comments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For the same reason, however, it may be difficult to make this approach the centrepiece of a constructive nation-wide youth unemployment policy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Our method is proved later to be constructive when we investigate the behaviour of solutions in the large cell limit.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This paper proposes a new constructive implementation of real numbers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

That is, the role of constructive, proactive parenting in decreasing children's disruptive antisocial behavior patterns was strongest for children who initially had many problems.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Most teachers considered the activities to be constructive, enjoyable and valuable.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I also thank two anonymous referees and an associate editor of this journal for their helpful and constructive comments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We would like to thank three anonymous referees for constructive comments that significantly added value to the final version of the paper.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The author wishes to thank two referees for very careful, constructive and generous comments on earlier versions of the paper.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I would like to thank the referees for their constructive criticism of an earlier version of this paper.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The authors would like to thank the referees for constructive criticism on the presentation of the paper.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We would also like to thank the two referees for their critical and constructive comments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I would like to thank two anonymous referees for their constructive comments, which greatly helped turn a conference presentation into a paper.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The constructive proof in this section was originally obtained mechanically, by applying our realisability interpretation on classical reasoning.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of constructive?

Translations of constructive

in Chinese (Traditional)

建設性的, 有益的, 有用的…

Meaning of constructive in English

Related word

constructive | American Dictionary

constructive | Business English

constructively

Examples of constructive

Translations of constructive

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