MEANING
Providing information or an example that helps someone learn or understand something.
Use it for
drawing a lesson from an unexpected finding; using a comparison to clarify a distinction; explaining why a failed case is analytically usefulIdentifies what helps understanding without treating a revealing case as representative or conclusive. Academic functions: Analysis / Interpretation, Research / Methodology.
Words that belong together
- instructive example
- instructive comparison
- an instructive failure
On the page
The failed replication is instructive because it reveals which assumptions the original account left unstated.
The contrast between the two narrators is instructive, although it cannot represent every text in the genre.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- instructive
Usage notes
Adjective: instructive example, instructive comparison. More instructive and most instructive are natural comparisons. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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