Amative or amatory

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Grammarist

Amative is an adjective whose complete definition one dictionary is ‘synonym of amorous’. It is used to describe something or someone has feeling or pertaining to love or lust. However, amorous may be used to describe someone or something as in love, which amative does not do.

The adverb form is amatively. The noun form is amativeness.

Amatory is also an adjective that can be a synonym for amorous. However, amatory deals more specifically with physical intimacy, instead of the more amorphous emotional love.

Amatory is slightly more popular that amative (especially considering our spell-checker doesn’t even consider it a word), but amorous is used the most often, by a wide margin.

Examples

I stepped into the eye of the amative hurricane at the Viceroy’s Cane Bar, wearing my finest Johnny Cash black. [The Boston Globe]

For dessert there is Patsy’s famous warm chocolate cake served with strawberries, honey, and whipped cream, accompanied by coffee. Patsy’s says all menu items are known to be amative. [The Epoch Times]

So while Brown’s dishes might have amatory side effects, there are other goals of the demonstration, as well. [The Desert Sun]

They have a faintly earthy scent, taste great (a little goes a long way with pasta or  for flavouring olive oil) and have a certain reputation in the amatory department. [Express]

Except for her brief amatory union with Aeneas, Dido’s clinical depression keeps her so withdrawn from her court she heeds neither cheering up nor sinister plots. [Huffington Post]