SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
sportive
adjective
Playful or lighthearted.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Playful and lighthearted
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topSportive is chiefly literary in this sense. Jocular concerns joking, and mischievous can imply a taste for minor trouble.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See sportive in use
The poem's sportive tone made its sharp observations easier to accept.
A sportive sketch of bicycles politely waiting in a queue added a lighthearted touch to the campaign poster.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license