Effusive
Exhibiting or expressing excessive emotion or praise; demonstrative and unrestrained.
adjectiveEffusive
Exhibiting or expressing excessive emotion or praise; demonstrative and unrestrained.
adjectiveImagine This
Imagine a host at a party greeting each guest with long embraces, tears of gratitude, and a flood of compliments—an effusive welcome that seems to pour from the host without constraint.
Sounds Like
ih-FYOO-siv
Looks Like
Looks like 'effuse' or 'fuse'—the root 'effus-' suggests pouring out.
Remember This
Originates from Latin effusus ‘poured out,’ from effundere ‘to pour out’; in geology, effusive also describes lava flows that pour onto the surface.
Other Forms
Connect With
gushy, demonstrative, lavish, overflowing, unrestrained
Note
Often indicates warmth and generosity, but can feel overwhelming; use with care in formal writing. In geology, the term refers to lava flows and is unrelated to emotion.