Meaning & use
conductive
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Meaning
adjectivecomparabletechnicalphysics
Able to let heat, electricity, or sound travel through it easily.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after is: a conductive metal; the metal is conductive.
Patterns
- conductive to something
Copper is highly conductive, so it is used in wires.
The conductive paint lets a touch screen sense your finger.
Wet skin is more conductive than dry skin.
Word forms
| comparative | more conductive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most conductive |
Common combinations
- highly conductive
- Silver is highly conductive.
- electrically conductive
- The glue is electrically conductive and keeps the parts connected.
- thermally conductive
- A thermally conductive pad moves heat away from the chip.
- conductive material
- Rubber is not a conductive material.
- conductive to learning
- A quiet room is conductive to learning in this sense only if the word is used loosely.
Synonyms and how they differ
- conducting
- Conducting describes something that is currently transferring heat or electricity, while conductive describes the ability to do so.
- transmissive
- Transmissive is rarer and often refers to letting light or waves pass through, not heat or current.
- permeable
- Permeable means letting liquids or gases through, which is a different kind of passing than conductive.
Opposites
Word family
- conduct verb
- to allow heat or electricity to pass through
- conductor noun
- a material that carries heat or electricity
- conduction noun
- the passing of heat or electricity through a material
- conductivity noun
- how well a material carries heat or electricity
- nonconductive adjective
- not able to carry heat or electricity
Commonly confused: conductive or conducive?
conductive vs conducive
Conducive means helping to produce a result, as in a quiet room conducive to study; conductive refers to carrying heat or electricity.
Practice
Metals such as copper are ____, so wires are made from them.
Choose one answer.
Conductive means able to carry electricity, which is why copper is used in wires. Insulating is the opposite, and fragile and porous do not relate to carrying current.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “conductive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.