Participative

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Involving the active engagement of individuals in collaborative processes or decisions
2. Pertaining to methods that promote shared participation and input among all stakeholders in a given context
3. Encouraging or requiring people to take an active role in group activities or decision-making

Etymology: "Participative" is a formation built on "participate," which came into English in the early 1600s, borrowed from the Late Latin "participatus," the past participle of "participare," meaning "to share in, to have a part of." Its root is "particeps," a compound of "pars" (part) and "capere" (to take), so the whole word literally means "taking a part." The adjective is a much later addition. "Participative" is recorded from the 1600s, but it stayed a rare, technical-sounding word for a long time, and it only became common in the mid-20th century, when management writers and social scientists began promoting schemes in which workers took a role in decisions. The word's modern sense of "involving people actively" grew directly out of that vocabulary of workplace democracy.

Synonyms: involving, engaging, collaborative, inclusive, interactive

Antonyms: exclusive, detached, passive, nonparticipatory, unengaged