English Language & Usage Asked on November 26, 2020
What is the difference between “affectionate” and “demonstrative”?
According to Cambridge dictionary,”affectionate” means:showing feelings of liking or love.
And “demonstrative”: showing your feelings or behave in a way that shows your love.
To me the words seem to have the same meaning,but I have seen both of them being used in the same sentence like:
(My husband has always been very affectionate and demonstrative.)
So,is there a difference between the two words? Or do they mean the same?
I think "demonstrative" covers more than positive feelings.
"He was a very demonstrative individual, such that you feel his judgement as palpable disdain."
Oxford: showing feelings openly, especially feelings of love. ( https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/demonstrative_1 )
As it says "especially" it is a reasonable interpretation that it is not "exclusively."
By contrast, "affectionate" is exclusively positive.
Other dictionaries have variations on "demonstrating as real."
So, I think there is an additional distinction that demonstrative inherently includes some activeness, the "demonstration" component. Whereas one could write an "affectionate" letter where the positive feeling is purely from context and implication, no active-ness required.
Answered by So_about_that on November 26, 2020
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