a. [f. L. applicāt- (see APPLICATE) + -IVE: cf. Fr. applicatif.] Having the attribute of application.
1. Characterized by being put into actual or effective contact with anything.
1680. Morden, Geog. Rect. (1685), 280. All Measures … are either Applicative or Receptive. The smallest Applicative Measure is a Barley corn.
1723. W. Mather, Yng. Man’s Comp. (1727), 196, heading. Applicative Measures, or Things measured outwardly.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 289. We wring from our souls their applicative strength, And bend to the cord the strong bow of our ken.
2. Of or pertaining to putting into practice; practical.
1638. Penit. Conf., viii. (1657), 226. The Priest … absolveth from sin, 1. applicative, 2. and dispositive.
a. 1703. Burkitt, On N. T., Matt. xxvi. 75. The remembrance of Christ’s words, was an applicative and feeling remembrance of them.
1862. in Lond. Rev., 23 Aug., 170. Dr. Knox is further of opinion that ‘his genius is wholly applicative, for he invents nothing.’
† 3. Relative; practical as opposed to formal.
1668. H. More, Div. Dial., i. § 15. II. 64. I did not mean Succession in that proper and formal sense, but only a virtual, applicative or relative Succession.
