Receptivity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being open and responsive to new ideas, suggestions, or influences
2. The trait that embodies an inclination to embrace and evaluate innovative concepts, suggestions, or perspectives is essential for growth and adaptation
3. The capacity to receive and consider novel ideas, experiences, or influences indicates an individual’s flexibility and openness to change

Etymology: Receptivity is a plain formation: the adjective "receptive" with the suffix "-ity", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. The adjective itself traces back through Medieval Latin "receptivus" to Latin "receptus", the past participle of "recipere", meaning "to take back" or "to receive". That verb is built from "re-", "back", and "capere", "to take", so the core idea of the word is simply taking something in. The suffix "-ity" arrived through Old French "-ité" and Latin "-itas", which were used to form abstract nouns of quality from adjectives. English adopted the adjective in the Middle English period and later added "-ity" to create the noun, so the noun is the younger of the two forms.

Synonyms: openness, susceptibility, receptiveness

Antonyms: closed-mindedness, insensitivity